Enslaved's Odyssey to the West: Dragon Tears
by chivalry-is-dead
Summary: Monkey's journey with Trip may have started when he's put on that slave ship, but what happened before that? What was Monkey's past? And what happens when he encounters it again?  You ain't never seen Enslaved like this. Original story with a spin on it.
1. Free!

**chiv-id: Hey, so I know that I didn't even close the polls or even have it open enough to let anyone else vote, but I got SO into this story because it was great and I just immediately thought of a fanfiction that I wanted to explore, so I'm removing this from the polls and leaving the other ones up. I just got so PUMPED for this story, you know, like a brainstorm that just started raining down ideas and stuff, so here you go! ANOTHER new story! God damn I am filling up my plate. I just want everyone to know that if you haven't at least looked up the story or played the game, then I'll try and include as much info as I can so you DO understand. AHEM:**

**-Basically, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West takes place in a post-apocalyptic world in which robots and slavers rule the world. However, instead of everything being all dusty and shit, Mother Nature took over and BAM, it's all lush green scenery and stuffs. There's also a lot of cool steampunk concept art that's drawn into this. The main story is similar to _Journey of the West_ with the Monkey King.**

**chiv-id: I think that's all I can tell you for now, but you may want to wiki the damn thing if you wanna just get a better description. Oh, and most of the chapters will be the actual names from the game since I think there's 8 chapters in total, but obviously, this is going to be damn longer than 8, so there will be like part ones, part twos, you know, that kinda stuff. It's also occurred to me that I may be the very first one to actually post a story of Enslaved on here, so I'm going to be a very happy panda when and if they do open up an Enslaved section in the games archive and I just post my shit and BAM, freaking 5 chapters up or something. So, without further ado, here's the newest story, taken from Enslaved: Odyssey of the West-"Dragon Tears"!**

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**Chapter 1: Free!**

"Aaarrgghhh!" a large muscular man pounded against his egg-like containment cell, letting everyone know in the slaver ship that he was not content with being imprisoned. He was menacing and terrifying, with a literally red face and white hair that could knock anyone off their feet in beholding the behemoth of a man. However, in his current state, he wasn't in any position to hold a threat. He continued to pace and grunt and thrash, much like an irritated animal, waiting to be set free. A mechanical voice, female, sounded above him and explained the journey he was taking as well as other accommodations. He honestly couldn't give a damn.

"Slaves 4875, 9045, and 9874, attend to Priority One," the voice broke its monotonous cycle of instructions and he saw three men run past his cell with haste, "Priority One has broken sleep cycle, enforce compliance without fatality." It caught his interest for a second, but he had more important things to worry about, such as his own enslavement. He continued to hit the door with his fists, although he had a rather calmer approach, understanding that this wasn't something he could easily get out of. Another interesting event occurred, however, and the man noticed the containment cell across from him had opened spontaneously, a young girl with red hair stepping out of it cautiously at first. Wait…no, it was a young woman, indicated by the maturity of her body. He saw her immediately run over to a control panel once she knew the coast was clear. If a small thing like that could get out, surely he could! He continued to pound the door with a bit more insistence, but no use.

"Warning: temperature critical," the voice again stopped its instructions, "Structural integrity, thirty percent." The man looked at the girl who ran away from the console, obviously the perpetrator of the malfunction. He looked up at the camera that peered down at him.

"Hey! Hey!" he shouted at it, understanding that now the slaver ship and any containment cell was a bad place to be. He looked out of the dingy cell window and saw sparks and jets of hot steam puncture through walls and pipes.

"Alert! Alert! Hull breach!" the mechanized voice only served to put more panic in the man.

"HEY!" he yelled again, louder, as he began using his shoulder to break down the door. Suddenly, explosions joined the sparks and steam, fire bursting out of various areas around the containment cells. The explosion behind the large man's cell was larger than the others and it flung his containment cell across the floor, throwing him about with it. It took him a second or two to get his bearings, but once he realized the door was no longer being enforced electronically, he merely gave it a punch and it went flying. Carefully, he climbed out and surveyed the damage the ship was taking, landing with a definitive thump. With no time to lose, he ran towards the nearest door he could find. It didn't take a genius to figure out that what the girl did was fatal and that at any moment this ship could be crash landing with everyone else in it.

"Priority One is breaching its cell, all slaves report to Priority One's cell immediately!" the voice rang out despite all the horns blaring out its inevitable death. It still had time to worry about that? He shook his head and continued to run, but halted when a slave got taken out by an explosive containment cell. The man couldn't waste time on contemplating how close he was to having the same fate as he ran towards the door, but another slave was on the other side.

"Prisoner loose in carriage nine, prisoner loose in-!" the slave had a similar fate to the previous one, dying in an explosion of flames and steam. The man recoiled from the destruction, shielding his face.

"Affirmative, slave nine-four-nine," the man grimaced at the voice, thoroughly hating it, "Combat mechs activating." Ah hell. There went the easy way out. As he continued to jump and run to the next door, people who were still trapped in their cells were reaching out to him, their arms waving about trying to get his attention. Continuing to ignore them, he spotted the young girl who had started all of this. She was able to get the next door open, which certainly caught his interest. Maybe she knew a way off the ship? However, before he could reach her, the last section of the platform broke off as he landed on it, dropping him to the floor below. Still alive, he glanced back and was glad none of the other grated floors had dropped, else it would have landed him in hellfire. The girl had escaped to the next room, so he continued to follow her. The trail of open doors was his only hope to get off of this death trap. Once he got back up and into the next room, another series of explosions went off, the girl running quickly to avoid them and ended up safe on the other side, beginning to work on the door again.

"Alert, hull breach, alert, hull breach!" the man was starting to get annoyed by the computer, but he had no time to rip off every single speaker in the slave ship. Besides, he also needed his gear, something that was vital to his survival and a precious gift from a friend long ago, so he needed all the time he had to search for it as well as finding a way off the transport. He continued to run through the doors that the girl had opened for herself, screams and shrieks of pain coming at him from all angles. The man saw the girl again, her back turned to him.

"Hey!" he caught her attention, "Where are you going? How'd you get off this thing?" The girl ran off, terror clear in her eyes. The man couldn't blame her, he knew he wasn't exactly the easiest to look at, but come on! He tried to run towards her, but the platform in front of him exploded, again separating him from the girl. Trying to reach her, he dropped down and again was pelted with sparks as the cells exploded. An odd creaking sound was the only warning he had when he turned around and saw the ship literally disintegrate, men and pieces of machinery flying out while the man struggled to hold on. He had almost fallen out of the plane but luckily managed to grab onto a secure iron beam that was still attached to the ship. Quickly, he used his superior climbing skills to make his way back onto the ship, his heart beating a mile a minute.

"Fire in sector 6. Containment measures failed," he could still hear the ship's computer, annoyingly, "Priority One has escaped, secure Priority One!" Whatever this Priority One was, it was causing a lot of trouble now that it was up and about. He continued to scale up the ship, trying to get to more secure surroundings when the computer again spoke.

"A-graded prisoners report to escape pods," it said and he smirked, "Slaves rated B and below, await further commands. Priority One's safety has been secured."

"Escape pods? Now you're talking," he began racing towards the escape pods, no doubt where the girl was going, so he again followed her. Suddenly, as he approached two disoriented slaves, a combat mech came out and instantly began firing at them, killing the slaves and narrowly missing the man. He dived to cover and waited until the combat mech stopped shooting.

"I can't fight this thing…I gotta get my weapons back!" he reasoned and began scaling the walls, outside of the mech's visual range. He got up to the next floor to avoid it and found a sane and calm slave trying to manage a console, most likely to try and save himself and the ship, despite the futility of it. The large man ran to the slave and grabbed him.

"Where's my stuff?" he asked when he pushed the slave against the console.

"What?" he asked, the slave sounding like a young man, probably younger than him.

"The stuff! Where's my gear? The stuff you took away from me!" he demanded, the slave's face covered so he didn't know what expression he was making, but he was sure he was terrified.

"I can't talk to you, it's against the rules," he replied scared, but the man punched the console behind the slave, leaving a very convincing and persuading mark, "Item storage, in the lower hull." However, once the slave had spoken, the computer turned on him.

"Slave 6B58 is assisting escaping prisoner," more alarms sounded around them, "Level 1 infraction. Command: terminate slave 6B58." Immediately, the slave's hands went to his head, a glowing red light appearing on his slave-band. He cried out in pain as the headband began generate power and in a single flash fried his brain, leaving him dead.

"Termination complete," the large man could only stare at the dead body, confirming what the computer had said. Again, he had no time to waste on his actions and the death of the young man as he began sliding down a pipe to the item storage.

"Escape pod eight launched. Seven pods remaining," the man knew that there was little time to lose and ran to the crates, recognizing his bike. However, it was pretty locked up in that crate and again, escaping the dying ship was the prime objective.

"My ride! At least I can get my gear back," he reached inside and managed to knock the storage compartment, accessing his gloves and a few choice items. A mechanical voice whirred when he knocked the heavy gloves together.

"Shields active," he grinned, now protected somewhat against the mech's bullets. The man whipped out a small circular device and tried to open it.

"Cloud inactive," the voice answered to his actions and he grimaced.

"Damn!" the man still slipped it in his belt, now reaching for a small baton-like item. However, when he flicked his wrist, it extended into a formidable staff-like weapon. It shrunk back on his command and he stuck it on his right arm, a slot made just for it. He felt satisfied with his find and concluded that, although it didn't sit right with him, to leave his bike.

"Okay…let's deal with that mech," he was breathing heavily, relieved that he had at least found the essential tools to his survival. He clambered back up and advanced on the mech.

"Here we go, come on!" he ran towards it, avoiding some of the bullets by ducking behind machinery, but when he was close enough, he continued with abandon, his shields taking most of the damage. He whipped out his staff and began beating it when it ran out of bullets, destroying the mech easily with a few hits. However, once he got to the next room, he began to sweat a little.

"Combat mechs!" he surveyed the vast amount of mechs that were hanging from the ceilings," At least they're not active." He walked calmly and slowly, to make sure that they wouldn't take notice of him. However, it was for naught when they began to drop from the ceiling when he reached the middle platform.

"Activating combat mechs," this computer was really getting on his nerves. This time, a melee-type combat mech faced him and he whipped out his staff to deal with it.

"C'mon!" he yelled, charging it and again winning, fighting one more after, "That all you got?" Of course, his mouth always did happen to get him into trouble and this time two came at him at the same time.

"Aah, shit…" he proceeded to battle them with a little more difficulty, sliding under one and jamming his staff through its body while eliminating the other with a ferocious lunge at its head.

"Escape pod seven launched. Six pods remaining," the voice reminded him in a cruel, taunting manner.

"Shit! Six? Better get a move on!" he ran towards the door, again open probably due to the red-head earlier. However, he encountered another mech hangar bay.

"Oh no, you've gotta be kidding me!" he groaned, proceeding to run towards them and jumping up, swinging his staff with enough force to extend it even farther. It knocked both the mechs into a vulnerable state and he smashed through them. Another mech dropped down from the ceiling and he growled, charging the staff with blue plasma energy before releasing it on the mech and stunning it. The man didn't have time to waste with the mechs, but they just didn't stop, so he beat that mech viciously until he swung the staff through the midsection of the entire mech. As soon as that was done, he raced for the door before anymore could drop down and saw the girl again, closing the red door behind her this time. He slammed his hand on the door hard to get her attention, to which she turned back and stared.

"Hey! Hey! Open the door!" he yelled, but she continued to stare, "OPEN THE DOOR!" The girl began to walk backwards away from him and he bared his teeth.

"You mother-" the rest of his words were drowned out in the noise of the aircraft and the alarms from the girl's side, but it was clear he wasn't happy with her abandoning him to his fate. He continued to pound the door, but to no avail, she left.

"Oh great. Now what?" he muttered. Calming down, he looked up and around, finding that there were scalable surfaces that he could work with. The ship was getting closer and closer to land when he looked down, and there were explosions near the front of it as well. He couldn't afford to cuss or rant and ran up the sides of the section of ship and the wings to get to the next carriage. However, mechs again appeared much to his exasperation.

"Not here!" he nearly screamed, getting tired of all this bullshit. He proceeded to fight his way across the wings and finally made it to the front carriage of the ship. However, just as he reached a certain wing, the wing in front of him slammed into something, and as he looked back on it, noticed it was a giant statue that held what was once a flame of some sorts, a crown fashioned on her head and holding a book. They were getting too close to the ground now, so it was inevitable that they would have hit something by now.

"We're gonna crash," reiterating his thoughts, "I gotta get to one of those pods!" He quickly turned his attention back to jumping to the next wing and noticed that the escape pods were nearly in his reach, but another one launched.

"Escape pod four launched. Three pods remaining," that damn computer kept reminding him very irritatingly of his dwindling chances of surviving this. He reached a door panel that was structurally weak under all the damage the plane had taken and began prying it off, but when he did so, the wind carried the panel into one of the ship's engines.

"Oh no," he managed to utter before the engine was blown to hell and the ship, now with only one engine supporting it, turned sideways. Now, he was hanging off the wing with most of it beginning to fly apart with help from the large man. The wing in front of him hit what looked to be like a large rectangular mountain and it flew apart.

"Holy shit!" the man saw another strange mountain and knew that if he hit it, there was little doubt he would die, "C'mon, c'mon!" So, without further ado, he climbed up the wing quickly, just enough so that when the wing did hit it, he wasn't on the section that was strewn across the rectangular mountain. Without that immediate threat, he continued to make his way to the escape pods, and saw another eject, his heart dropping when he heard the computer announce that it was the second one, meaning only one was left.

"Only one remaining? Ohhh shit!" he continued to climb faster and faster, his life depending on it, "Come on! Come on you idiot!" The man almost lost his grip on the next handhold but held on, grimacing again when a blast of fire streamed against him.

"Move it! Come on!" he told himself, but the computer heightened his panic.

"Warning! Impact in 20 seconds," he yelled in frustration at the damn thing, but kept his focus on getting to that last escape pod, "Warning! Impact in 10 seconds!" Finally, he gripped a small bar that was on the escape pod and sighed with relief somewhat, but when he moved to open it, he found that the red-headed girl was inside. They were both surprised to see each other, but after shouting at her and threatening her, she didn't really feel any sympathy or compassion as her finger hovered over the eject button.

"No! No don't do that!" he yelled at her from outside, seeing that the position he was in, despite being on an escape pod, was definitely almost equal to staying on the ship, "NOOOOO!" The escape pod ejected and rocketed them off the ship with speed that had him actually plastered to the pod. The ship crash-landed as expected, but he couldn't tell where since he was more worried about dying on the escape pod. They continued to rocket around the once-vibrant city of New York until the pod hit a stone arch. It separated the large man from the pod and the girl finally and flung him through a window, slamming the man against a fallen stone pillar. He stayed awake for a moment, watching debris and leaves flutter around the disturbance he caused. After everything he survived, he knew that laying here would leave him vulnerable, but he could feel the darkness creeping into his mind and allowed it to take over, his vision going black and his head lolling to the side as he fell unconscious. He may have escaped, but he would soon discover that he was far from being free…

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**-Meanwhile, on the Ship-**

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"Pri-priority One…" the computer's voice crackled on the broken console and a figure stirred next to it, in a giant bubble-like containment cell, "Ch-checking vitalssss…" A blue light scanned the figure in the cell and they cracked an eye open, showing that where white would have been there was black, with yellow pupils.

"Priority O-o-one stable," the computer managed to screech out, the figure awakening completely and sitting up in their prison, "S-s-sending distressss beacon." A small light started blinking on the cell, the figure staring up at it. With that, the computer completely turned off and the one last person left alive on the slaver ship was left alone. That person stood up and looked at their cell before flexing slightly, eyes staring up at the beacon in slight disappointment. Even if it was destroyed, the signal would have been sent already, so it didn't do any good to waste energy on the annoying device. The best thing to do would be to escape the cell and escape, thus leading to the recovery mechs finding nothing but an empty wreck that smelled of death and destruction. While trying to figure a way out of the cell, the figure's eyes spied a certain crate that contained a surprisingly undamaged bike. It was familiar and the figure's mouth opened slightly in wonder, but closed a few seconds later in a small smile.

"So…he was here with me…the entire time," the figure sat down in a meditative pose and closed their eyes, "I'll be waiting then…Monkey…"

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**chiv-id: So! How'd y'all like the first chapter? I know that I didn't include any names at all, just the freakin' man, girl, and Priority One, but that's the mystery, ain't it? However, I'm sure the last line gave away the main character's identity, and anyone who's played the game already knows everyone except for Priority One since that's my OC, but whatevs! Okay, now I hope you guys review, 'cuz again, I LOVE ME SOME FEEDBACK! So yeah, reviewing would be nice. Oh, and I opened my beta-reader status from inactive to active, so anybody who needs a beta, I am open for business! See you guys on the next "Dragon Tears"!**


	2. The Old City, Part One

**chiv-id: Hello all my readers and, yes! Another chapter of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, the Dragon Tears chronicle. I was sad to see so few people have read my story, especially since Enslaved had a great story line in the first place, but I continue onward! LOL, but seriously, there was one person who reviewed, whom I thank, and I have revised some of this story actually so that it's not one huge glob of text. Instead, the chapters will be split into parts, which means that one chapter in the game may be extended to fit my story and pace. I hope you guys enjoy the story and I'll see you after!**

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Chapter 2: The Old City, Part One

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**-Location: Grand Central Station-**

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There was sunlight…and grass…that much he was certain of. What he was lying on was hard, warm, and forgiving. Probably why his head hurt so much in the first place. The large man tried to get up and as soon as he at least propped himself up by his elbows, he saw the red-head clutching her knees and staring at him like some child, again thinking that she was more girl than woman. She looked at him like he was a strange alien, uncertain of him. He was pissed off at her, for sure, since their best interactions were slamming the door in his face, leaving him to die, and ejecting the escape pod while he was on the _outside of it_. Needless to say, seeing her again wasn't a welcome sight.

"You…" he managed to get out, despite all the pain that assaulted his senses, "Aarrgghhh…oh God! My…my head feels like it's ripped open." He sat up for second then fell on his back, groaning in pain.

"It's the headband," the girl finally opened her mouth to speak and surprisingly she didn't sound like a small weak child.

"What?" his face was contorted in pain and disorientation, trying to sit up again only finding that the pain increased tenfold.

"The slave headband…" her eyes were wide, watching his reaction, "The one I fit on you." Now, one can imagine the surprise and rage that the large man felt when he heard those words. He had just survived an exploding containment cell, fought several heavily armed mechs, and avoided a gruesome death by crash-landing by hopping on an escape pod. All of this so that he _wouldn't_ get enslaved by Pyramid slavers and transported back to their base of operations. What's more, he's done this since he was a child, surviving on his own, fighting mechs, even people, and to be taken down by this…this…_child_? The face of pain was dropped and switched with one of serious disbelief. His hands came up to his head and he felt the cold, rigid steel that would keep him prisoner. He leaned forward, pain forgotten.

"You put this on me?" he asked quietly, yet the girl could feel the rage building in those words.

"Let me explain!" she began in a hurried breath, her eyes going even wider if that was possible. She knew the consequences, but she still seemed scared. He narrowed his eyes. If there was one that was ever going to be explained, it would be why he was not…and he meant, _not_ fucked with…_ever_.

"Get this thing off, or I'm gonna rip your head off," he promised her. Not telling her, promising it. His eyes were serious and they flashed with barely contained anger, understanding that if she was the one who put it on, she was the only one within a 100-mile radius who could take it off immediately. If he had to scare her and threaten her into compliance, so be it. Law of the jungle, and he took that saying to heart.

"No," she replied determined and he looked up suddenly.

"No?" he questioned loudly, grimacing. Was she insane? She was half his size, probably couldn't even hold one of his gloves without dropping it in five seconds. A weakling. Someone who had to depend on others. And here she was, acting like King of the Hill when she had _nothing_ on him except the power to take off the damn headband. And even so, he could just kill her and look around for other survivors to threaten into agreeing to do it for him instead. He began to get up.

"Do you think I'm screwin' with ya?" he yelled at her, pushing off the pillar and running at her like a maniac, the girl's eyes wider than ever. She gave a garbled and scared noise before she hid behind her own resting spot.

"Command: stop!" she yelled in defense and to his surprise, a sudden pain flared in his brain, causing him to actually halt. A bright red light pulsated from the headband, signaling that it had hacked into his pain receptors and was giving him a severe jolt. He screamed out in pain, his mouth open and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. It was excruciating. Again, her eyes went wide.

"Oh my God…it works," she said breathlessly, now confident in her power, "Command: move away from me!" And another flare of light came from the headband as it responded to her voice, the large man giving even louder screams of pain as his hands flew to his head and moved away from the girl. He fell back to his original place on the pillar, trying to lessen the pain. It worked, and the girl stood up from her hiding place to stare at him with her mouth wide open.

"What the hell are ya doing?" he demanded, pain written clearly on his face. The headband had stopped shocking his pain receptors and he was left with what felt like his head being split open by a rock. He continued to groan in pain.

"I hacked a slave headband," she explained, ducking behind her place again, in case the headband failed, "So it could be activated by my voice commands." The large man had fallen down and she gained courage once more as she came out to stare at him. Always watching him, making sure that the device was working. He felt like he was going to throw up, but he certainly didn't want her seeing that. His pride as a warrior, as a survivor, was already being wounded by having been enslaved by her.

"Activation triggers a systemic pain response," she took a few breaths, calming herself; "It's what controls the slaves." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye when he also began to feel the effects subside. Her eyes were just so freaking huge, like they were going to pop out of her head! And admittedly, that's what he wanted to do: pop her head like an overinflated balloon.

"I'm gonna kill you," he grunted at her, still struggling to gain control over his body. However, his brain suffered so much trauma from the headband that it was messing with his nerves.

"You can't…" she gave a smart-ass nod with her head, "If my heart stops beating for any reason, the headband will discharge a lethal dose." He stopped grimacing again, understanding her words, yet not believing a word of it. Just when things couldn't get worse!

"If I die, you die," she told him simply, her power over him absolute. The man groaned, closing his eyes in disbelief. Did she understand how much bullshit he had to go through today, half of it being her fault? Did she know how much crap he had to deal with before, just to avoid this kind of predicament? These questions continued to cycle through his mind, along with one just for her.

"Why?"

"I need your help. I come from a wind farming community," she nodded her head to the right, "It's about three hundred miles from here. I'll never make it on my own. If slavers don't get me, mechs will. That's the deal. Get me back to my home and you can go back to yours." He finally was able to get to a kneeling position since the pain completely dissipated. Breathing heavily, he stared at her with less ferocity and hate. He still couldn't believe that he had been enslaved to such a weakling, but as he learned in his travels, it was better to roll with the punches then to take them outright. Besides, he was a reasonable man, when the time called for it. However, when she took off his headband, and he _would_ hold her to it, he promised never to get near human settlements ever again. Once he sorted out his thoughts, he glanced back to her again, his eyes having drifted away during his pondering.

"Looks like I don't have a choice," he responded heavily and somewhat defeated.

"Neither of us do," it surprised him that she was actually apologetic, "I'm sorry." She wasn't quite such the bad manipulative girl that he thought she would be. Admittedly, even he understood that nothing less than a strong warrior could navigate this place, and he was one of the very few who could do so alone. However, he wasn't letting down his guard around her. After all, it was her fault he was in the headband in the first place.

"Okay…" he was somewhat resigned in this and shrugged, "Let's go." He fully stood up and this caused her to back away a little, even sit on her ass. He looked around and tried to pull together the pieces of his mind that the headband had assaulted. When it looked like he wasn't going to throttle her anymore, she stood up as well and walked past him while he shook his head in an attempt to gather his thoughts.

"Command: stay with me!" he was about to tell her that she didn't have to command him, but he was tired and just followed, like a recently broken horse. He also hadn't noticed it before, but her words echoed in his mind. It was rather distracting and it certainly didn't make the transition from being free to enslaved any easier. Then, something even more bizarre happened: lights and readings appeared in front of his eyes, as if he were wearing a helmet, but he knew that all that adorned his head was the headband.

"Hey! What the hell is all this stuff I can see?" he asked, groaning a bit as it did tweak his headache here and there while fiddling with his optical nerves.

"I've hacked the headband to give you visual feedback," she responded, entering something into the digital readout on her arm, "It's patched into your shield system and my biometrics."

"And your voice," he finally approached that subject, gripping his head as the echoing became too much for him, "It's like it's…it's inside my God damn head."

"It is," she replied, continuing entering data into the readout, "We have a continuous audio link now." He was a reasonable man, but this was just too much.

"Great…" he grunted sarcastically, still holding his head. She went silent after that last comment, apparently not used to being talked to in that manner. The man smirked a little, having finally shut her up. Again, he was a reasonable man, but that didn't mean he wasn't below getting payback while he could.

"You got pretty beat up when you landed," she again spoke and he nearly groaned with the sound of her in his head. Well, what the hell was he supposed to do about it? She pointed to a health pack that was lying conveniently there, probably scattered around the entire city from the slave ship that crashed. He walked over to it and stepped on it, not really showing finesse with the delicate machinery, but it did the trick as he felt the healing energy course through his body, repairing any damage the landing and the headband had done. The ringing in his head was gone and the blurry vision went away with it, giving him at least an easier time controlling his body.

"Shall we keep going?" as if she really had to ask, he continued to patrol around the area, understanding that an open area was a dangerous area. Mechs enjoyed large open spaces, mainly because there weren't any obstructions such as stone or metal that would get in the way of their sensory range. This was also not a great place to stick around because it looked as though the earth had cracked and several fissures had raked the land here, making it easy for mechs to hide. They came across a stone monument that had the faces of many people displayed on them, old school paper style.

"Who are all these people?" the girl had asked, but the man just turned away.

"Who cares?" he replied, continuing to survey the area, but found that the posters were not only just on that stone but on others as well, covering nearly the entire vicinity. Ignoring them in favor of finding a way to get them to a safer place, he found a strange vertical platform that had a twin on the others side of the ravine.

"I think this must be a drawbridge," the girl had come up behind him, joining him in staring at it.

"Must be to keep mechs out," he surmised, glancing at a red and rusted sign.

"There are some controls here," she told him as she went to his left side, pulling down on a lever. It lowered their half of the vertical platform, now horizontal.

"The other side is blocked," she remarked, seeing as how the other side failed to move, "Can you get around and clear it?" He almost laughed at the casual exchange between them, a captor and her slave. To even be so unguarded towards him, her manner and tone said so, despite the professional air about them, it almost seemed like a joke. However, to focus back at the task at hand, he nodded and looked around for good footholds. She looked with him, although he didn't see any point to it. He was a master climber, so even dubious places were scalable for him. He grabbed onto a metal pipe on the side of one of the stone buildings and crossed some metal beams to the other side. However, a metallic groan echoed around them in the concrete jungle and he knew that they weren't alone.

"What was that?" she asked quickly, suddenly feeling insecure and scared. He could tell by the elevated heart beat that he was monitoring from the heads-up display.

"Mechs," he responded as loudly as he could without alerting the machines, "Keep your voice down. They could be close." As if to enforce what he said, a shadow of a mech passed by, another metallic groan sounding around them. He was almost to the other side, just a little more…

"What are we going to do?" she asked, again in a hurried tone, but it was a little louder and he cringed as he fell to the ground on the other side of the ravine. Both from the fact that it was loud in general and also because he could also hear her inside his head, so it rang for a while before his ears started working.

"_Not_ make too much noise," he told her, and she replied with a bashful, 'oh'. He reached the lever that would lower the second half of the bridge, but the damn thing was rusted in place. As carefully as he could he jerked the lever into obeying, but it broke it and the bridge fell down with the loudest clang he had ever heard in his life, magnified by the fact that they were most likely surrounded by a large number of mechs.

"Oh shit!" he muttered under his breath, hearing the mechs screech in joy at having located their prey. The girl shouted out behind him, drawing unnecessary attention to herself.

"Keep out of the way," he told her from his side, "Let me deal with this." He stood directly in front of the drawbridge to keep them from passing him to attack her. There were three that vaulted over pillars of stone and vegetation and began their assault. With his trusty staff, he attacked the first with a strike straight through the head, the stupid thing actually flying towards him wide open. With one down, he turned his attention to the other two, dodging their flying metal blades and attacking their joints. When he struck through the last one in its middle section, he sighed.

"Okay, it's all clear. Get over here," he called and heard her voice.

"Coming," she replied quickly, the nervous little thing crossing and sticking to his side like glue. Already she had begun to depend on him. However, once she spotted a movable object, she pointed to it.

"We could get out from here. Can you move this?" she asked, and he looked at it, assessing it. He shrugged and moved forward, grabbing an edge and hoisting it up, displaying his full…or at least half of his full strength as he lifted it completely up, enough for her to get to the other side without having to crawl, but just bend a little. Needless to say, she was impressed, her eyes actually stuck to the muscles that rippled when he used them, probably too worried about him killing her to actually notice the man's physique. She glanced back at him when he got through without so much as a scratch. He actually had a good body, but she trained her mind to more important tasks at hand. Such as, why was the man actually leading now? Seriously, where the hell was he going? He was jogging, so she had to run to catch up with him.

"Do you think you could tell what the…plan…is…?" she trailed off when he stopped and noticed that he was staring at a gigantic black cloud that looked like a snake coiling in the sky. Her mouth dropped open and her green eyes became ridiculously wide again, but it wasn't just the smoke. The entire area looked like an old city with Mother Nature retaking it inch by grassy inch, covering it in a lush green and vibrant scenery. It was beautiful.

"To get you home as fast as possible, so that you can take this thing off my head and I can break your neck," he listed, the girl pausing in gawking at the breathtaking scenery to address him.

"I meant-"

"Yeah, I know what you meant," he retorted a bit irritated, having hoped that she would've gotten the humor of it, "See that smoke over there? That's where the slave ship came down. First thing we're gonna do is head for that, hoping my ride survived the crash."

"What's your ride?" she asked, still staring at the smoke and scenery.

"Ah, it's the only way I know how to cover three hundred miles," he turned to her again, "Two wheels and an engine." He proceeded on without her, but she caught up quick enough.

"Look at this place," she remarked, taking in the immense statues and tall buildings, "There must have been thousands living here."

"More," he corrected her, making her turn back to him.

"Tens of thousands?" she asked, intrigued by how he would know that.

"Maybe," he replied, "Someone once told me that this place…used to the heartbeat of a whole culture. This city used to be known for art, music, literature, and it was enough to give its people an identity that was unique." Her eyebrows rose up, surprised by his knowledge.

"And…who was that 'someone'?" she asked, but he waved it off.

"Forget about it," he told her, and she decided not to push him on the subject.

"It's so sad, though," she continued, hoping to at least generate more out of him, "I wonder what happened to them all." He didn't reply and she sighed, completely dropping the topic. However, they soon encountered another mech, this time a ranged mech who began shooting as soon as its laser located them. The man instantly dove to the side, but the girl just stood there, almost getting hit until he startled her by yelling at her.

"Get down!" she immediately did as he said and went for the nearest shelter, "When I give you the signal, you get back, okay?" He had figured she wasn't the fighting sort, so he was going to have to hold her hand like a child would and guide her through the more dangerous situations. He felt like he was going to die any second because she didn't even learn the basics, seeing as how she didn't move when the mech first ambushed them.

"No, no, no, no, no," she babbled and he looked back at her, "I can't! I can't!" God, of all the times-

"Hey!" he interrupted her self-confidence-shattering mumblings, "Do as I say!" She immediately replied with a 'no', only making him further irritated with the situation, seeing as how he couldn't protect her with her being stuck in a corner raving like a lunatic.

"I gotta find a way to take him out," the man grunted to himself, seeing as how the girl wouldn't do anything he said so he had to do it the hard way. Using the various objects around the mech as shields, he made his way over to the ranged mech and attacked swiftly, taking it out so it wasn't a threat anymore. However, it gave one last mechanized cry that alerted nearly six others, all of the melee mechs. He groaned and continued to fight, but he was fatigued, the amount of stress piled with the amount of injuries he had sustained before and running on health packs only was draining him. He received a small puncture wound on his right pectoral before slamming his staff into the mech's chest, making sure that it would be superficial instead of fatal. Then, as he was fighting the last mech, it sliced across his abdomen, the man not jumping back enough and a ribbon of blood streamed from it, staining his stomach. Finally, after it was done, the girl was there, staring at him with those almost abnormally big green eyes as usual, like he was some alien creature. He was pacing much like a wild animal, eyes somewhat wide and roaming, nostrils flaring, and his chest heaving.

"If we are gonna get through this," he yelled at her from across the way, "Then when I ask you to do something, you need to do it! Immediately!" She continued to watch him with those terrified child-like eyes and nodded.

"Okay…I understand," she responded shakily and softly. This made him start to calm down and he stopped his pacing, which also helped the girl to relax a little.

"Let's go," he tested and she answered with an 'okay', following him immediately. They continued through the city, reaching another blocked archway to which she looked at him expectantly. He rolled his eyes and again grasped the edge of the debris, lifting it up enough for her to get through, but once he glimpsed what was on the other side, he yelled at her.

"Watch out!" again she had been watching him instead and found herself face to face with a melee-type mech, screaming as she slid down to her butt in an effort to stop her momentum. The mech closed in on her, hovering over her and then grabbing her head with its foot, the sheer terror she exuded probably making the mech even more blood thirsty. However, just before it brought her face to its blade, she jammed a small device into its optics, releasing some sort of shockwave that stunned all the mechs in the vicinity.

"They're stunned, but it won't last!" she warned him, running away to the stair well. He understood and smashed them while they were completely vulnerable, taking only a few seconds or so. He looked at her cowering on the stairs, still in shock and her eyes wide with fear. The man picked her up and she nodded to him once she had recovered, showing him that she was alright.

"What the hell was that you did?" he asked, honestly curious but also wanting to help her ease back into a state of calm.

"It's an EMP pulse. My father gave it to me," she replied as she trembled slightly while climbing the stairs, "It knocks out small mechs for a few seconds, enough to give me a chance to get away." The tremor in her voice almost dissipated when she talked of her father, as if the thought of him soothed her. The man jogged up to her, easily catching up and watching her breath heavily. Then, she noticed the bright green electronic door in front of them.

"This security door is still functioning," she observed, almost in disbelief, "There must be live power cells around here!" She rushed to it, decrypting the locking mechanisms and trying to find a way to open it.

"Doesn't matter," the man immediately replied, "We shouldn't get sidetracked. We just need to get to the crash site." She glanced up at him as if his opinion was the one that didn't matter before getting the door open. Running through, she instantly dropped down on her ass again. The girl was doing that a lot lately…

"Mechs!" she explained in a loud whisper, but he slid over to her and covered her mouth.

"Shh…" he peered over the edge of the metal and concrete wall, "We can't sneak past them." They were several ranged mechs that could seriously ruin their chances of getting even near the ship. He looked to the other side.

"I'll get across and draw their attention. Then you make a run for it," he told her, the girl nodding and he pulled his hand off her mouth. The man glanced around then ran, letting his shields take the brunt of the damage before getting safely to the other side. He distracted the mechs and let her cross without being shot, sighing in relief. However, it was far from over as the man soon found out…

* * *

**-Location: Slaver Ship-**

* * *

"…Monkey?" Priority One looked to the horizon, distant echoes of battle slowly making its way to the ship. Priority had escaped their prison cell with little effort after resting for an hour, stretching after being cooped up for so long, and was now watching for any mechs that could be approaching the site. There were already several of them posted around, probably securing it, but none of them were climbing up yet.

"Waiting for more reinforcements, I see," Priority looked down at them before glancing back at the city, "There's little time to lose, my student. And you'll soon find that New York City has become an unforgiving place…"

* * *

**chiv-id: Whoo! So, there wasn't as much romance in there, but trust me, next time will! Or at least base physical attraction, LULZ! Seriously, though, I am trying to keep to the storyline as much as possible so that people who haven't played the game know what happens and have a general back story, but there will be diversions, such as the ending part here when we go back to Priority One, which is going to be that person's name until Monkey and Trip meet up with them. And yes, when I mentioned the student part, you can take a guess at what Priority One's relationship with Monkey was before! There was also a small tidbit of information that wasn't apart of the original story line that I snuck in there that hints at Priority One, but people who haven't played the game may not spot it, but people who have...EASTER EGG HUNT TIME! If you guys can spot that small out of place information, I shall give prize to the first one who can! Maybe...artwork? I have been coming up with their design in my own style, which is kinda manga-ish, so keep an eye out on when I do that!**

**P.S. Have any of y'all noticed how Enslaved caters to both sexes visually? You have Trip, who's really hot. I mean, seriously, I haven't seen a girl who can run in a tube top and her boobs don't fly out, especially with Trip's size. And honestly, the girl has the skinniest waist with the biggest pair of boobs and that just ain't proportionally correct, but I'm pretty sure that the boys don't care about that. Then you have Monkey, who's also pretty hot. For the girls, he's appealing in the sense that he has a really nice body, tall, and his ass is just way too nice to be real. Seriously, that man's got a bodacious butt, you seen that thing? Sigh, but enough fangirling, please REVIEW, whether you wanna agree with me, disagree with me, or even just comment on the story! I'll be reading 'em, so please, drop 'em like it's hot! See you next time on Dragon Tears!**


	3. The Old City, Part Two

**chiv-id: Whoo, another chapter! I think the reason I can keep pumping out chapters this fast is mostly because the idea is still fresh in my mind and the chapters are actually relatively short. Moreover, I'm sticking closely to the storyline so that I don't have to keep brainstorming each and every idea that pops into my head. There are a few things that I'd like the mention before I let y'all read this, even though I'm excited and awaiting your reviews on how it is, but ahem-back to the topic:**

**1) There is a poll on my profile that I'd like people to look at please! It has some story bases that I could work off of and I was hoping for more people to be voting to decide which three I pick to do after the next stories after finished. I know that I'm piling a lot on my plate, but I do this every time I get stuck on all my stories, so please vote! It helps, trust me.**

**2) I know that this is a MonkeyxTrip fanfiction, but I have to say that I don't really like her all that much. I know. "WHAT? WHY THE FUCK DON'T YOU LIKE TRIP? SHE'S SO SMART AND SHE'S REALLY PRETTY AND SHE HELPS A LOT!" Well, to answer your questions and random outbursts, it's because she's kinda a dumb bitch. I mean, I get the fact that she couldn't survive on her own because she's always in a group and she's a girl who has no strength to kill a mech on her own, but seriously? I'm just sympathizing with Monkey here because she forced all this shit on him and didn't even give him a chance. I mean, who knows? Maybe Monkey's a nice guy and would let her tag along until they got back to her community. Yeah, this is probably a retarded and pointless argument, but really, all the shit she puts him through, what the FUCK? So, there is going to be a little Trip bashing even though it is her pairing story. I said it. Done.**

**3) I tried to keep the locations as realistically accurate as possible...so I pulled up a Google map with directions from Grand Central TERMINAL (yeah, I said station in the last one, so I'm correcting myself) to Brooklyn Bridge, which would be the crash site...I think...pfft, I'm totally screwing this up, but hey, it's a fanfiction! It doesn't have to be canon! But I really am trying my best to keep it as realistic as possible as far as the locations go, so if you are going to flame me on the locations and what not, please keep that in mind.**

**chiv-id: Yeah, and that's all I have to say. Please enjoy Chapter 3 of Dragon Tears and I'll see you after in a bit!

* * *

**

Chapter 3: The Old City, Part Two

* * *

**-Location: Grand Central Terminal Park Avenue Viaduct-

* * *

**

The man was finding the same situation nearly everywhere they went. Ranged mechs, melee-mechs, all in manageable numbers, but he was getting concerned. It had to be because of the ship, mechs' first instincts were to destroy or surround disturbances in their sensor fields. With the magnitude of the crash, it must have wakened every mech within a 100 or so mile radius. The man was deciding that it might be too risky to bring the girl along and contemplated on forcing her to hide herself somewhere until he got to the ship and brought back his bike. However, she held all the cards and he couldn't force her. The man helped her past the last few mechs, destroying them after she got to the security door, and sighed with relief. Finally! They had caught a break when they found an ancient tree that towered nearly as high as the stone buildings.

"Look at this tree," the girl remarked, "It must be hundreds of years old." She stared at it in wonder, again, like a child. The man shook his head and looked up with her, mechanical dragonflies whizzing around in the air and the branches. His blue eyes scanned the tree's curves and growths, calling him back to a time when things were much, _much_ simpler. When he didn't have to deal with having to protect some girl who was holding him against his will. She proceeded on to a path around the tree, advancing towards a colorful field of flowers. However, he dashed towards her and held out his arm, preventing her from taking one more step.

"Wait!" he told her quietly. Something wasn't right; he could feel it in the air. There were several sparking mechs that laid in ruin around the flowers, but they couldn't have been defeated in combat, the damage was too severe.

"The road ahead's mined," he deduced, watching as the flowers swayed gently, belaying the awaiting death that came with disturbing it, "We need to find another way."

"I think I might be able to do something," the girl replied after a few seconds of thinking, "Follow me." The girl was excited, smiling, and touched his arm to get him to follow as she turned around and headed back towards the tree.

"Hey!" he called after her, shaking his head again at the recklessness she showed. This wasn't some game, he thought, it was a dangerous world, with dangerous mechs and dangerous people. However, he still had to follow her as the headband wouldn't allow him to wander far from her or her objectives. He came up next to her and saw her pointing at the mechanical bugs.

"See the dragonflies? I need you to catch one," she told him, and he looked at her incredulously as she wandered away to stare at them.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked. She was asking him to catch bugs…seriously?

"I'm not commanding you, I'm asking you," she had come back to him and was looking him straight in the eye, something she wasn't able to do until now. The man stared back at her for a second, then closed his mouth and looked up at the tree, watching the dazzling greens, reds, and blues of the robotic bugs. He knew he was going to regret this, but since she finally decided to ease up on the parole measures…

"The branches are up pretty high," he responded, the girl smiling with delight that he agreed. He honestly couldn't believe he was doing this. She walked over to a side of the building where an iron bar outcropping caught her eye.

"What about that ladder? If you lift me up, maybe I could drop it down for you," she offered, and he came over, throwing her up to the top.

"So, you want me to catch one of these dragonflies?" he asked, just making sure since it seemed like such a random and meaningless thing to do. He didn't hear an answer from her until she figured out how to get the ladder to go down, grunting out her answer.

"It might be difficult…" she told him as he climbed up, "They frighten easily and they're quick." The man decided not to tell her that he already had experiences with dragonflies, seeing as how he just wanted to get this over with. Trying to catch one had frustrated him before, he was sure it would do so again.

"There's one! Right there!" she began fiddling with the digital readout, "I'll put it up on your display." He saw the dragonfly light up and nodded, beginning his ascent towards it. However, just as he predicted, it was tricky and frustrating just getting near it.

"It's just…it's-it's right over there! It's just-" he knew that she was trying to help, but this was getting him even more pissed off if anything and wanted her to shut up.

"I know, I can see it. I'm not blind," he grumbled, using his expert climbing skills, "God damn, will you stay still?" He remembered the last time he had to catch a dragonfly, and it was just as ridiculous now as it was back then. Not being told why was another similar factor. The man just hoped that the girl had a good explanation other than that they were 'pretty'. He saw another opportunity to grab the damn thing and latched onto a pipe, scurrying up it to reach the robotic nuisance.

"Come on…" he swung his large fist at it, trying to snatch it out of the air when he shook the pipe too much and it fell down, almost slamming him into the grates had he not let go of at the last second, "Oh, God damn it!"

"Be careful!" he heard the girl say and he grimaced again, glancing down at her position. However, with her hands cupped around her mouth and her eyes wide again, he couldn't bring himself to snap at her despite her authoritative tone. What was wrong with him?

"Thank you," he replied, somewhat sincerely and mildly. He didn't catch the surprised look the girl gave him and a slight blush as she watched him run across to the other side of the stone building. Again, she couldn't help but admire the man's form, even though they were on a mission. He was just so…honed, something she had never really seen before in her community. Sure, there were strong men, but they were burly, slow moving, and kind of on the heavy side. This man was lithe, flexible, even the stronger men in her community didn't have the strength and stamina to beat off the mechs like he had and certainly not the skill. She couldn't help but gloat over her decision to enslave him, but a large piece of her heart sunk every time she thought about the fact that she _had_ enslaved him. It was one thing for Pyramid to do it, but for a girl to a man who wasn't involved in her struggles…she'd keep her promise, she swore it. Even if it meant he'd break her neck.

"You worthless insect! I'm gonna kill ya!" his words snapped her out of her reverie and she saw him finally sprinting across the tree and his long and agile figure caught her eye again. Did she mention that his height, tall, was another factor she liked about him? The girl knew she was drawn to him physically at this point, even though they had only known each other for several hours. She didn't know his name, age, where he was born, or even if he had killed a man, although that might have gone without explanation. However, to her, it didn't matter. As dramatic and somewhat overly-romanticized as it sounds, she was a young girl at heart, and what little girl doesn't wish for a handsome and buff prince to whisk her away from this world only filled with mechs and death?

"Oh, what a day…" he remarked, and the girl looked back up at him, but then noticed he was showing her his backside.

'Wow, that is…really nice,' she thought, instantly blushing when she thought of it.

"Hey…you okay? This thing is beeping like crazy in my head," the man looked down at her, eyes cringing as he touched his headband. She shook her head and told him she was fine. He continued on his epic quest to get the dragonfly and she stayed there, watching him. She'd have to reprogram the headband to only recognize dire stress, but for now, she was content to watch him. It was also nice to know that he worried about her like that. A smaller, darker thought was lurking in her mind. Once they reached the community, she knew that once the initial appearance was over-looked, he'd be swarmed by the other young women that were there. Her delicate eyebrows knitted together in a small jealous twinge. She looked herself over and, while he wasn't looking, even grabbed her breasts to measure their weight. The girl knew she wasn't a bad catch either, but in the presence of this man, was she good enough? Then, she remembered what they were doing and she looked up, wanting to distract herself from the 'what ifs'.

"Did you catch it yet?"

"No, no, not yet!" he yelled back to her, the frustration entering his tone of voice once again. She backed off and let the man do his thing, deciding that it was unwise to make him any angrier than he probably already was. Dragonflies were hard to catch if one were to rely on athletic ability alone. Strategy and a calm mind were needed to get one, and even then it was hard.

"Got it!" her eyes widened when he shouted it.

"That's great! Bring it back down here!" she was glad that he had caught it, but again her mind wandered and whirled out of control as she wondered if he had lain with other women, seeing as he was an exemplar example of a man. She was sure that his category of men: chivalrous (when he wanted/needed to be), handsome, strong, flexible, and even somewhat of strategist, was dying out or perhaps that he was the only one left. Yes, when she examined and weighed his negatives and positives, he was certainly someone with a ton of benefits. Sure, he could be uncouth and his manners were somewhat below expectations, but it was tempered with an ability to be reasonable and a willingness to learn. A flicker of movement caught her eye and saw the man slide down a pipe to her. She met him with a smile and bright eyes, but all he did was give her tired glare and throw her the dragonfly. Her face fell and the childlike and wide eyes looked at him again, the girl's mind focusing on the task at hand now.

"I used to play with dragonflies all the time as a kid," she squatted down to set the delicate machinery on a stone in front of her, "My father said that someone he knew from a long time ago helped him catch dragonflies too. He said that they built character and made you think, so he encouraged me to figure out how to catch them on my own. I always used to admire them because they could fly and had such beautiful wings. Didn't you?"

"No, I used to squash them," he replied, pacing and irritated, "Was too busy figuring out how to catch them and their color is made by those lights on the inside of its body, so when I squished 'em…" He looked to her and saw her eyes wide again, causing him to shut up. The man didn't want to scare her into incompetence. He turned away and waited until she had started working again to observe what she was doing.

"They evolved some simple sensors to help them sniff out energy sources," he continued to watch her as she fiddled with the damn thing that took him so long to catch, "Hmm…they're pretty basic, but…for our purposes, they'll do the trick…" Again, she was lost in her ramblings and he took the opportunity to just assess her. The girl was a pretty enough thing, but the environment wasn't doing anything good for her. Although it probably contributed to her slimness, seeing as how the out-of-shape were the first to die in this mech-filled jungle, but besides that, it had somewhat greased her hair so that when it fell out of her bun, it fell in ropy groups. Her face and entire body was dirty too, although he supposed it was similar to the pot calling the kettle black when he hadn't washed in a while either. However, her body was pretty nice, long legs, thin waist, and a large pair of-

"Done!" she exclaimed, and she opened her arms to let the dragonfly have some room to flit around. It rose and shook its robotic head before flying toward the man, observing him for a second before squeaking in terror and flying towards the girl. It settled on her head much like an accessory and walked up to him.

"Keep still," she told him, and he did, watching the digital readout on her arm appear in front of him. The girl was sifting through data, pictures of things like his headband and the dragonfly whizzing by his eyes before he focused on the girl through it. He looked at her eyes which were darting here and there, trying to do…whatever it is she was doing, and found that they were indeed a nice shade of jade. They were…pretty. He almost smacked himself when he thought that and was glad that the headband only received and didn't send any wanton information back to her.

"There," the wall of data and symbols disappeared between them and they both stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, the atmosphere becoming tense. The word she uttered was ended with a catch in her breath and she suddenly seemed shifty, nervous, and uncomfortable. However, the man continued to look her in the eyes, as was his custom when dealing with people. He was taught that whenever dealing with a human being, their eyes would be telling the truth, not their mouths.

"It's now set up to send a live relay to your headband," she spoke again after the small awkward moment, "It has a camera setting, and a sensor setting."

"So?" he replied in a soft grunting voice, eyebrows lifting. Her mouth opened, but she still seemed uncomfortable. It closed for another second before opening.

"Try it out," she told him, then turned away, "Here, follow me." They traveled back to the minefield of flowers and she took the dragonfly off her head, sending it up to fly and hover over the area in front of them.

"You should be able to see the mines on your headband display," she informed him, the man's eyes widening as small orange circles with blue spheres in the center began appearing in his vision everywhere the dragonfly went, "What do you think? It's pretty cool, huh?" He had his hands on his hips and was continuing to look at the mines before turning to her, seeing that she was watching him intently to observe his reaction. Needless to say, he was mildly impressed.

"Yeah…" he replied and she gave a smile, one that caught his eye, "Yeah, it's pretty cool." She continued to smile, her heart soaring as she realized that she wasn't just a burden to him anymore. Not that she considered herself to be one, but she certainly couldn't fight the mechs and maneuver around the terrain like the man could.

"Can you take me through the mines?" she asked, the man turning to her again, "I can't see where they are…" She was planning on him holding her hand or something, but he nodded and then turned his back to her, crouching slightly. The girl looked at him in confusion and the man looked over his shoulder at her impatiently.

"C'mon, haven't got all day," he grumbled at her. She understood what he was going to do now and she was surprised, yet happy. Being carried around by him was even better than she expected, although she knew the gravity of the situation would be dire if he happened to fall right into a mine. So, she tried to be professional about it and just clung to him. He didn't even have to support her legs, his hips and butt easy resting points for them, which made her somewhat blush as she felt them shift and the muscles in his back brushing against her chest and stomach. God, was he just made of muscles or what?

"You all right?" he asked her, and she nodded as they began walking through the mines, "You need to fix this then, 'cuz your icon is going nuts in my display." The blush on her face increased tenfold as they moved along the minefield. Once they had reached a more open area, she tapped his shoulder and he looked at her, nodding as he put her down. She put her hands on her hips and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was easy," she remarked, the man's eyebrow lifting in turn, "Well, for me anyway." She wanted to groan, she didn't mean to say that! The girl was about to walk off to cool her head, but the man outstretched an arm again.

"Wait a minute," his eyes scrutinized the area once more, "Something's not right here…maybe you should do another scan." She complied and flung her dragonfly up again, watching the man's face grimace as even more mines appeared in his vision.

"We've got a problem. There are mines everywhere," he told her, his eyes closed to see through the dragonfly's own, "Let's head for that building!" The girl looked at where he pointed and put a marker there for him, the small blue diamond clear in his eyes. He swung her on his back again and began to make the ascension, traversing broken down vehicles and stone outcroppings before realizing that he wasn't going to be able to carry her the entire way. He looked around for another route when she pointed at a ledge.

"Throw me up to that ledge, I'll look for a way through," she assured him, and when he had gotten to where she wanted him, "Up there!" He obediently threw her, giving her a rather large heave so that she could reach it. Once on top of the ledge, she waved at him.

"I can get across up here!" she shouted down to him and he nodded.

"Okay, I'll find another way," he told her, going back, but once he crossed under the bridge of stone outcroppings, a mech, cleverly hidden, attacked him. It surprised him as it sprung from its spot, lunging at him.

"Watch out! Command: duck!" she yelled at him, unfortunately using the power of the headband to make him fall to his knees in pain. However, it worked as the mech accidentally flew onto a mine, blowing it up and causing the pieces to rain down around him.

"I could've handled it myself!" he angrily retorted at her, grabbing his throbbing noggin.

"Sorry, but if it had tackled you …" he glanced back and saw the awaiting mine nearly half a foot behind him, "You would've ended up like the mech." He looked back at her, his hand still holding the back of head. He jerked his head up in a rushed thank-you, dropping the hand rather grumpily. She then made a cough and he turned back.

"Are you okay?" she asked in a more concerned tone.

"I'm fine," he assured her curtly, and she sighed.

"Good…because I can't get across. Can you help me?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes a little before he jumped on a rusted and broken down bus, the name of the contraption finally surfacing from his memories. When he reached her and threw her to it, she almost fell down and he had to jump back to help her, grabbing her arms and dragging her to her feet, which wasn't all that hard to do.

"Thanks. That was too close," he nodded to him in thanks and they both continued on the connecting stone pillars and rusted vehicles to a small island with a barrier.

"There's a sentry turret over there," he observed and pulled her down with him, "We won't be able to get past." She put a hand on her dragonfly.

"I'm gonna scan," she threw it up in the air and he watched it fly off, the small recon unit becoming a routine occurrence now. He closed his eyes and watched through the dragonfly's own optic as it surveyed the area, spying the giant metal sign it was looking at.

"I'm detecting a structural weakness," she told him, putting small crosshairs on the areas where the metal was rusting, "If you could get close, you might be able to knock that down and crush it." He nodded and immediately set off, using his shields and the girl's own decoy to reach a building where he'd be able to cross above the turret without begin shot at. He surveyed the ground and he frowned once more, several melee mechs resting there and obscuring his way.

"I need another scan," he told her through his link, and he closed his eyes and watched through the dragonfly.

"Looks like you might be able to sneak past them," she told him, and he nodded as she showed him the way. The man wasn't one to complain, but he was growing weaker by the minute. And every time he moved made it worse, but he wasn't going to reveal that to the girl. Once they had made it to a safer point in the city, they would take a break and then he would treat himself, but for now, health packs were his only hope besides rest. Speaking of which, he was in need of one because they hadn't had time to search for anymore due to the constant interference of the mechs and the wound he got across his stomach wasn't exactly getting any better. He spied one behind the field of mechs and their sensors, but he couldn't afford it. It would only work against him, so he took the path that led him above and across the mechs, reaching the other side with little difficulty.

"Okay, I got past," he told her quietly, and grinned when he saw a health pack just waiting for him as if it were a reward for deciding to go stealthy. He stepped on it and he felt the gash on his stomach disappear without a trace, although replacing his blood wasn't as easy. Rest and time were the only things that would restore it, so he hoped to get through this as quickly as possible. He clambered up the building with the metal billboard and finally reached the top. He stared at the metal beams and groaned slightly, he certainly didn't want to have to manually knock the supports down.

"Okay, made it," he told her tiredly, preparing to jump when he found some plasma cells, the ammo he needed to power his staff, "Plasma cells! Now we're in business! I hope this thing still works…" Using the staff blast mode, he shot down the supports with ease and it fell on the turret, actually creating a safe bridge to his position from hers, conveniently enough. However, as usual, sound and tremors alerted the mechs to their location and he saw her running for her life once more.

"Ahh! Help me! They're coming! Quick, do something!" she sprinted towards him, sliding and ducking when she saw an arm come down and one melee mech barreled past her into a mine. He quickly jumped down the building and preceded to just swat them towards the nearby mines, figuring it'd be easier to blow them up instead of fighting them directly head on. As soon as the last one had stumbled into an explosive, he put leaned against a pillar while she ran towards him, having hid in the shadows as usual.

"Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling down as soon as she was near him to look at his face. He was breathing hard and he desperately needed rest, having fought nearly a whole armada of mechs, ranged and melee. The girl seemed to take notice of his tired and irritated demeanor, his face now pressed against the cool stone column in an effort to regain some composure and calm. She honestly did feel bad about his current state, and she would have offered to stay somewhere to rest had he not claimed that the crash must have alerted nearly every mech in the city. So resting was not an option at this point. She looked between him and a downed mech at his feet before pulling up the scanner, the green-blue wall of data again rising from her arm.

"Every time you kill a mech I can download its schematics," she told him, hurriedly flicking through the data, "Figure out what makes it tick." She slowly rose from her position, all the while her hand working in a flurry of motion while her eyes kept darting between the data and the man. The girl knew that he was having a rough time protecting her, so she was trying to share the burden as best she could: technology and data.

"It will make life a lot easier for you," she told him after she was done, approaching him carefully. He looked up as she came closer and continued to breathe somewhat heavily. He had his eyes closed, which made it less intimidating, but once he opened them fully to show her the pent-up rage, anger, and frustration that swirled within its debts, she halted. In the shadows, they almost glowed with a surreal quality.

"If you wanna make life…_easier_ for me," he breathed, he pointed to his headband, "Why don't you go ahead and take this thing off." The man walked away from her, a disappointed look souring her face. She had tried…as best she could, but even then, it wasn't good enough. She didn't put the blame on him, however, most of everything she did was made possible only by his doings, and his doings alone. He had caught the dragonfly that had become a major contributing factor to their group and she couldn't even dream to download the schematics if he hadn't been there to beat them. Most mechs she had found in the field were old, their data cores completely rusted or melted by their comrades in an effort to keep people like her from building a defense against them. And the man was giving her the very thing she had craved most when she was still with her community: the inner workings of a mech. The girl felt a darker side awaken in her heart, something she didn't want to admit. She was using him, in every way possible, and she was beginning to get used to it.

"Hey, we going or what?" the man called from the building where they were going through next. She shook the thoughts from her head and focused on getting back to her community as fast as possible. No more thinking, not right now. She could sort through them when they had a chance to sleep and regain their strength, but in the corner of her heart, she knew that what she was taking from this man wasn't something to laugh about or forget. She was taking his freedom, his life, his strength, and his tactical knowledge. Everything that he was, everything that he fought for, could be torn asunder with a word if she wished…

* * *

**-Location: Slaver Ship Crash-Landing Site (The Brooklyn Bridge)-

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**

"A hundred fifty years of ravaging and death," Priority One looked from their perch atop the slaver ship, the mechs below still holding their position, "And yet so beautiful…" The sun had risen to almost the center of the sky and Priority was fanning their face gently with a hand. It was hot, making the metal under Priority's feet scorching, but with a little help from the plastic containment cell and clever placing of strewn scraps of metal, they had fashioned a roof and a small chair to sit in.

"Balance is being restored to the land we had once taken for granted…" Priority looked up to the sky, "Monkey…you must hurry my boy, the sun is almost at its peak. Be wary if you wish to continue on foot during the dark, for mechs are not your only concern when the sun falls…"

* * *

**chiv-id: Well, I know I keep adding the Priority One bullshit at the end and you guys probably want to know who the fuck he/she is, but that'd be spoiling the surprise wouldn't it? Aaah, such a cocktease ain't it? LULZ! Anyway, you'll find out who Priority One is when Monkey and Trip finally reach the crash site which is...what in Chapter 4 or 5 of the game? I dunno, but you'll get there eventually! I'm just introducing a little romantic tension there for you guys who were _DYING_ to see some romance between Monkey and Trip which was almost nonexistent except for the OBVIOUS attraction they had to each other, ESPECIALLY near the end, and I am using capitals WAY too much over here. Sorry, it's like 2:15 AM over here and I'm about to die of sleep exhaustion. Oh, and for those of you who haven't already guessed it, the man is Monkey and the girl is Trip, but I kept them anonymous and used general descriptions so far to keep it accurate to the game itself, since they haven't introduced each other yet. I know, what the fuck? You've been walking around for several hours with this guy, kicking ass, taking names, and you haven't even done your own? Same here, I would've been exchanging names, ages, birth dates, boxers or briefs in the first half hour with that sexy-ass mofo, and she only decides to do it THEN? Unrealistic right there...LOL! So, I'mma go catch some sleep and I'll see you next time on the next chapter for Dragon Tears. chiv-id OUT!**


	4. The Old City, Part Three

**chiv-id: Well hello all my Enslaved readers, and welcome to another addition of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West-Dragon Tears! Now, it's been a bit of a while since I've uploaded, but there's been some intense brainstorming put into this work, so don't flame me just yet for not uploading quick! Anywho, just wanted to clarify or highlight another few bits of things before I let you read:**

**1) There is a poll up on my profile, just vote. Not gonna stop this story, but if I ever get stuck with every single story I have, I can reboot my imagination process and start a new one with the ones y'all vote for, so please, go vote for 3 stories.**

**2) When I said I didn't like Trip, I mean there is going to be a little Trip bashing in this fic. Don't hate me. T-T I don't know why, but I don't really like Trip's character for some reason...perhaps it's because she's inaccurately proportioned? Eh, could be...**

**3) When Monkey was chasing after dragonflies, I wanted to know where Spyro came into play. And ironically enough, my story is called Dragon Tears. WTF with all these connections?**

**chiv-id: And yeah, the last one was just something I noticed after reading my own story. Well, I believe that's all I have to talk about for right now, so please, enjoy the next installation of Dragon Tears! And I'll see you after the story, swoosh!**

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Chapter 4: The Old City, Part 3

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-**Location: At the End of Park Avenue Tunnel and near Carlyle Hotel's Banquet Offices-

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**

"If we're going to be traveling together," the girl offered, "Maybe we should exchange names." She had left her thoughts and worries behind for now, but she was still curious on other subjects. After getting through that mech-fest, she decided that if they did die, she at least wanted to know his name, and perhaps he know hers. The man had lifted the wall of debris for her and she slipped through, finding that this area was rather safe and secure, with walls around them and clear easy-to-see access points that would make it impossible for a mech to come in and attack them undetected. So, she brought the suggestion up to distract herself from her 'what ifs'.

"My name is Tripitaka, but I often get called Trip," she told him, grunting when she jumped off a ledge and landed firmly on her feet, "I mean pretty much always. People call me Trip." Well, that was lame. She wanted to go ram her face in a wall until it was numb.

"How about you?" Trip asked, trying to divert attention from her dull introduction.

"I don't have a name," he replied in his gravelly voice, gaining her attention.

"You must. Everyone has a name," she retorted, putting her hands on her hips and staring at him.

"Not everyone," he responded as he walked past her into another room of the stone building, Trip almost missing the cheerless tone in his voice. She blinked, trying to figure out what he meant before she followed him and grabbed his arm to get him to stop.

"Well, what did your parents call you?" she inquired instead, the man stopping in his tracks. He didn't look at her, just stood there for a moment or two before yanking his arm out of her grasp. She was a bit confused when he didn't talk for a while, pacing about the room.

"My real parents were killed in a mech attack when I was a kid," he finally told her, Trip's eyes going wide, "And the last good parent I had…abandoned me. After that, I grew up in the wilds…alone." Once he had informed her of his past, he walked into another room, not waiting for her. She looked down somewhat ashamed before running after him again.

"Well, what do other people call you then?" she decided to continue, to distract him from the painful memories she probably stirred.

"Monkey," he told her, and she smiled when he actually talked to her again, "That last parent I told you about gave me it and when we got around to other communities, they learned to call me that, too. Soon, when I was on my own, in the communities that I trade with, some of them stuck to calling me Monkey. _If_ you wanna give me a name, you can use that."

"Okay…" she liked how they were progressing so far, "Monkey…" She tried it out and he turned to her. They were on a pile of metal containers shaped like a staircase, so he helped her up the last step when she started to climb. He nodded to her and she smiled again. This was nice…it felt like they had bonded somewhat in that minute or so. Maybe Monkey wouldn't snap her neck at the end of all this, provided she gave him food, water, and other supplies to appease him. They found a hole in the wall of the building and gazed out. This new area was much more open and less crowded with vegetation. There seemed to be a bridge between a couple of buildings once, but some sort of cataclysmic event had torn it asunder and cast pieces of it aside. Perhaps an earthquake, he surmised. Monkey went first and sprinted over to a stone barricade, glancing up from his position. Trip poked her head out, but Monkey turned to her and furiously waved her over as discreetly as he could.

"Get down!" he yelled at her in a hushed tone, "Before that turret sees us!"

"Scanning," she automatically told him and threw her dragonfly up in the air.

"I don't think we can get through here," he observed, seeing as how most of the terrain combined with mines would make it difficult for Trip to go anywhere. Sure, Monkey could probably get through this just fine, but without superior climbing skills, Trip was stuck since he couldn't afford being thrown off balance while carrying her. So, no clambering with her on his back, much to his frustration.

"Wait…I'm detecting a fuel source," Trip reported and Monkey turned to look at her.

"A fuel cell?" he asked, interested.

"No, this is from the old days," she corrected him, "It's in that container. Looks like it's petroleum." He nodded to her and she turned the dragonfly around to stare at the turret.

"You know, Monkey, if you could actually get up to that turret, you can take control of it," she turned to him and he set his mouth in a firm line. He understood what she was hinting at, and he couldn't find any real reason to protest since he could take out the turret and the blockade at the same time, but they _just_ got out of mech territory. Or at least found a neutral zone where they could get a breather for once. Now, if he did happen to make it up to that turret and blow up the tanker, he knew that it would just draw more attention to them. However, time was of the essence, and the longer it took them to get to the crash site, the more mechs there may be surrounding it. He wrestled with the pros and cons and decided that it was better if they got the blockade out of the way after all. Monkey nodded to her and began leaping across the debris and wreckage of the bridge that once was, Trip distracting the mech every time Monkey called for it. Once he reached the turret, he raised his staff and slapped it, making it shrink inside its metal shell like a snail. Monkey hopped on it and when it arose again, he grabbed the auto-targeting system wiring that was around the barrels of its guns and tore it off. This gave him full control as Trip had briefed him before and braced himself for when the tanker would explode.

"All right, you ready?" he asked her, Trip giving a nod from her position and he fired. It blew the tanker sky high after the gasoline ignited and a mechanical and guttural cry rang out from the forest surrounding them.

"I'm detecting mechs…_lots_ of them!" she shouted, and he grimly hunkered down to take them out. He knew this would happen, but he supposed it was the path of lesser evils or trying to trek around it and be ambushed by the mechs that were apparently close by.

"They're coming straight towards me!" she told him, continuing to hide behind the barricade.

"Can you climb up to my position?" he asked in a loud yell, but she shook her head, "Didn't think so…okay, just stay there! I'll take care of them!" Monkey noticed the first wave of mechs rush towards her and shot at them, accidentally shooting one of the barrels that were lying on the island and causing it to blow up the entire wave of mechs that came.

"Whoa…now that's what I'm talking about," he smirked and as soon as the next wave got near another stacking of barrels, he shot at it and it exploded just as the other had. With a few strategic blows, Monkey had destroyed a whole squadron of mechs, but his eyes narrowed as he saw one lone mech advance on Trip's position.

"That mech is broadcasting!" she yelled, Monkey cringing at the ringing of her voice in his head, "It's calling for reinforcements! Take it out!" His eyes darted everywhere, but he had used all of the explosive barrels during the beginning of the fight and growled in frustration before training the gatling-gun plasma rounds on the Broadcaster. He was able to take it out not a few seconds before it released its signal, Monkey leaning back and relaxed slightly, breathing in and out slowly to calm himself.

"I think that's the last of them," she told him, rising up from her position, "Let's get out of here." He nodded and got off the turret, giving it one last look before extending his staff and driving it home into the support, leaving it broken. Then, he wrecked the barrels of its plasma gun, effectively rendering it useless. He put his staff away with a grimace. There were more than just these standard mechs in the jungle and he had seen firsthand what sort of consequences arose from leaving dangerous and heavy-duty weapons around. With that, he began to swing towards her position by traversing the wall of the building next to him. When he reached her stone island, she stopped him from continuing forward.

"Hey, wait up! I've got an idea," she held up her arm and the digital readout appeared once more, "I think I can upgrade your equipment." He looked at her in slight confusion before she held before him some schematics.

"I pulled these from all the mechs you've destroyed," she flipped through a few images, "And a few artifacts that were lying around from the old times. From them, I've been figuring out how to update your gear, not that you need it, but it'll make things easier, like I said." Monkey looked to the staff strapped to his right arm and then at her.

"You can improve _this_?" he held up his arm and she put her wrist next to the retracted staff.

"Yeah, although it's already an amazing piece of machinery on its own," Trip glanced at him while she improved the staff's abilities, "How'd you come by this anyway?"

"It's called _Ruyi Jingu Bang_, the Golden Rod…I got it from my master," he managed to get out before looking away, knowing that she'd look at him surprised.

"Master?" she asked, "You mean you've been enslaved before?"

"No, not that way," he waved off her misinterpretation, causing her to blush, "I meant like a teacher…also the last good parent I had, but…" She understood why he trailed off, but she was still curious.

"What happened?" Trip asked as she continued to multi-task, but just as he was about to answer, Monkey heard a strange noise and he grabbed her, hiding behind a derelict car, "What is it?" He held a finger up to his lips, not looking at her. He slowly looked over the hood of the car and saw what looked to be a scrawny man, with clothes torn in several places, running for his life. Monkey noticed that his clothes were similar to that of the slave-guards from the ship, but his slave headband had been taken off. Monkey was about to shout at him, get his attention and maybe confer on how exactly he got his own band off when the man turned around and looked in the direction he was fleeing, eyes wild with fear.

"No! No, stay back!" he yelled, his back pressed up against a stone building, "Stay-!" There was a flash of silver that hit Monkey's eyes and he closed his eyes, blinking several times to shake off the effects before looking back at the man. He stood there, swaying for a moment and seemingly fine. Of course, that was before the upper-half of his body slid off his lower-half, Monkey's eyes widening at the grotesque scene from him. A figure moved towards the man out of the shadows of the trees and approached the corpse as the man's legs buckled and fell with the rest of his body. It was man-like in its appearance, but the way it moved was predatory and animalistic. Monkey looked closer at the abomination and narrowed his eyes as he saw tattoos marking his entire body, not unlike Monkey's. The flash that Monkey had seen was explained by the two coiled whips at the figure's hips, one stained with freshly-spilled blood. And without the man's screams and thundering footsteps, it felt as though the entire forest had quieted in the presence of the killer. Monkey knew what this man was…one of the A-rank prisoners. He noticed the flash of red light that came from the man's head and he knew that he had been enslaved, now hunting his fellow captives and chasing down any escapees from the wreckage.

"Monkey…what's going on?" Trip asked in a loud whisper, startling both Monkey and the man, his head jerking up and towards their direction. Monkey cursed and grabbed her arm.

"RUN!" Monkey flung her to a nearby ledge to their right, Trip screaming through her descent in surprise. He jumped after her, not bothering to look if the man was chasing them as a silver flash blinded the spot where they had been hiding behind the car. An explosion occurred and gave them cover, but Monkey didn't stop. The most important thing currently was to get Trip to a safer location, only then could he deal with the killer.

"Monkey! What the hell is going on?" she screamed at him, Monkey swinging her onto his back, "Why are we running? And from what?"

"What else, a fucking slaver!" he yelled back at her, climbing the stairwell quickly to reach the top. Once they did, he looked behind him and saw the smoke ominously approaching them. Monkey wasted no time in jumping through the hole in the side of the building and onto a ledge that lead to an open area. He cursed as he surveyed the area quickly, seeing that there weren't any surfaces where he could climb with Trip on his back, and there weren't any that he could throw her onto either. He dropped down with her under the ledge and let her down, pushing her into the corner and covering her with his own body, making her shrink into the concrete.

"Monkey…" she whispered as softly as she could, understanding that talking now would be deathly, but she couldn't help it. This was scaring her. A normal slaver wouldn't have fazed Monkey, she understood that from seeing him fighting mechs.

"Shh…" he told her, his eyes going to the ledge above him. Just as he thought, the slaver had followed him through the smoke, his footsteps heavy and silence-inducing. Trip closed her eyes and hugged herself into a small ball, Monkey bracing himself and gritting his teeth, eyes narrowed. The slaver took a few steps forward, some dust and rubble falling on the pair that was just below him. However, instead of investigating the area like Monkey believed the slaver would, the man retreated. 'Retreated' being an accurate word because the man ran away, his steps alarming and somewhat fearful. Monkey didn't quite understand it, but it seemed they were safe for now. He got off of her, Trip blinking her eyes open at the sudden light that assaulted her eyelids. She looked up and he nodded to her, a hand held out to help her.

"Is…is he gone?" she asked, taking that hand.

"Yeah…" he replied, dragging her to her feet and observing the area that they had landed in. There was a statue of a man holding the world up, strange dots and lines carved into it and the man seemed to be in a rather painful position. He darkly chuckled, likening it to his fate: lifting a heavy burden with no say in the matter. Besides the archaic statue, there was a glass tank filled with fish and algae. He was surprised to see that anything besides a few sparse animals to be living, especially in an enclosure like this.

"Monkey, mind explaining what the hell was that?" she asked, breathing heavily. Monkey turned back to Trip and looked up at the ledge.

"A-Rank prisoner turned slaver," he tried to keep it as short as possible, but her eyes were narrowing in an attempt to understand and he sighed, "Sometimes, the people they capture aren't just survivors. Sometimes, they're killers, people driven insane by the loss of loved ones or just by being alone for a long time. Hell, they could've been messed up from the beginning, and believe it or not, slavers have a justice system."

"Wait…how do you know this?" Trip asked, eyes closed now as she tried to process the new information.

"My master," he uttered and Trip nodded, accepting it, "My master believed that the mechs still have some sort of old code still programmed into their circuits. It's barely there, but Pyramid is going along with it. Back in the day, people who killed, maimed, and murdered were punished."

"People who kill, maim, and murder still get punished," Trip corrected him, but the dark look in his eyes made her pause. Monkey closed his eyes, reflecting on the words that had been uttered to him in the darkest days of his youth.

"_When our world ended_," Monkey began, Trip's eyes widening, "_**Their**__ world began_."

"Who's world?" she asked quietly, Monkey looking back at her.

"When I was a kid, I thought my master meant the mechs, but…" he walked over to the statue, "After what I've seen, they ain't the only thing to worry about." Trip understood what he was talking about. She had seen what people would do to survive, but it still gave her chills. Monkey continued onward, circling the statue, observing it.

"My master was talking about the primal in man, the chaos that was unleashed when mechs took over. The things that our laws and rules were meant to keep locked up, like caged animals," Monkey put a hand on the edge of the stone slab that the statue was placed on, "'The loss of morality and the blurring of the line between what was right and what was wrong', that was what my master was talking about. Because to you…nothing is worth more than your life." Trip shook her head, trying to keep out the darker elements of his speech.

"Stop it!" she yelled at him, hands over her ears, and he felt the familiar and agonizing pain searing his brain as he stopped talking. He was clenching his teeth in pain as he fell, hands on his head just as before. Trip calmed down after a few seconds and realized that she had inadvertently hurt him. She knelt beside him as the pain died down, Monkey breathing heavy.

"I'm sorry, it's just…I can't believe that," Trip told him, a hand on his shoulder as he got up.

"You can't…but I can," he replied in a grim manner, grunting as he stood up, "And so can my master." Trip was feeling more and more resentment against this master of his. What in the hell was this guy teaching him? And more so, he abandoned Monkey when he needed him the most. Why? Didn't he realize that perhaps Monkey's outlook on life was more pessimistic and devastating than any human should ever have because of it?

"It's not just what my master said," he quietly remarked, drawing Trip's attention back to reality, "I've seen it with my own eyes. So don't go thinking with that head of yours that I came out the way I did 'cuz of my master." She cast her eyes down, unable to look the man in the eye. Trip glanced to the fish tank and stared at it in wonder. She hadn't had the chance to look at what was in the fish tank because she was so focused on the slaver and Monkey, but now…

"Oh, they're beautiful," she had jogged over to the fish tank and pressed her hands against the cool glass. Monkey, dropping the dismal subject, came over with her, already having seen the fish.

"Yeah," he replied, almost smiling at the breathlessness of his female companion despite the harsh topics being discussed beforehand, "That don't make any sense. They should be dead." Again, his bleak attitude about life was brought into play and she decided to rebel against it, hoping to at least give him second thoughts about it.

"It makes perfect sense!" she retorted immediately, "The sunlight feeds the plants. The plants oxygenate the water. The small fish eat the algae. The big fish eat the small fish." She had been circling around the tank all the while and finished her explanation absentmindedly and happy.

"It's a closed ecosystem," she pressed on, Monkey joining her in pressing his hands against the glass, "Just like my home. My father designed our community to work in exactly the same way so that we'd never have to leave the outer compound walls. We grow our own food, condense our own water, create our own energy. We have everything." Trip hoped this was generating some sort of positive, if not hopeful, feeling in Monkey, seeing his eyes chasing the fish.

"Except a future," he countered softly, Trip looking back at him in surprise to see his eyes on her. Those eyes were almost pitying, but his words were stated factually as if they were true.

"What do you mean?" she asked, disconcerted by the fact that he hadn't been at all affected by her proud speech about her home and even disputed on the matter that her home was perfectly safe.

"This is what I was talking about," he turned his head forward for a moment before looking back at her, "Oh, I've seen it all before. Scattered tribes coming together under one visionary leader. It's never long before they attract the attention of the slavers which…obviously has already happened."

"It was just one slave ship," Trip's words were dangerously soft, daring him to continue, as if his words decided her home's fate, "It only got a handful of us."

"Think more won't follow?" he defied her own optimistic thinking and she turned to him in disbelief, Monkey's eyebrows lifting in a manner that begged her to punch him in the face, except that it would be more likely to conclude that it'd hurt her fist more than his face. Instead, Trip made a final stand against his attitude and beliefs.

"If these fish can survive for two hundred years against all the odds," she smiled gently, "So can we." Her strength and faith was admittedly surprising to someone like him who had seen many who carried on just by surviving, which wasn't the same as living. Monkey himself was a survivor. This girl, however…_lived_. She had beliefs, she had a moral code, which he had seen despite having himself fitted by her for a slave headband, and more importantly, she had hope. Hope was something that crushed people. It was dangerous and better left alone, like a raging fire that could keep you safe and warm, but would most likely burn you and kill you if it got the chance. Yet, Trip carried hope like it was natural, confident that it wouldn't harm her. Monkey felt something stir within him, a sort of protectiveness for this girl and the burning hope that she carried. However, before he could delve more deeply into his thoughts, a creaking noise captured his and Trip's attention and a gigantic ball of steel erupted from the glass in front of them, repelling them away from the fish. Monkey and Trip rolled away in different directions, and when Trip regained her senses, she screamed. It was a mech, but it was an older model, as shown by the amount of rust it had been collecting at the bottom of the fish tank…

"The fish…" she whispered, her eyes wide and threatening to spill over with tears as she watched them flop around on the ground, searching for water. They were doomed to die. Monkey got up and saw Trip stagger over to a corner of the room, already having gone through the routine a couple of times to understand that just being out of the way and safe was the best. He extended his staff and prepared to beat the behemoth, observing its size and the round steel fists at the ends of its arms. It was a slow-moving, hulking thing that would undoubtedly have trouble with targets that were faster than it, but that didn't give Monkey the right to underestimate the mech. Monkey saw it move aside the pieces of debris, as if thinking his prey had been crushed under the rocks and glass. After making sure that they weren't there, it zeroed in on Monkey. He saw the monster look up and then roar at him in a mechanized bellow, stalking after him one thunderous step at a time and dragging those lethal metal weights.

"Monkey, be careful," Trip cautioned him, Monkey's mouth forming a firm line in determination. The golden mech before him was no ordinary one, to be certain, and he vaguely tried to remember what kind of mech it was. He made sure he was a good distance away, but drew its attention so that it wouldn't run after Trip. After staring at the mech's most obvious features, he remembered that it was a demolition mech. Its attacks were comprised of launching those metal fists at him like a cannon, chains attached to those fists so that they could always be brought back in time for another strike. With that small bit of knowledge, Monkey charged in, rolling out of the way of the first attack then marking the mech's side with the first blow of the struggle. At first, the exchange between the two combatants went well, Monkey was able to stay ahead of the mech's attacks while simultaneously slamming his staff into various parts around its body. It also helped that the mech needed to rest after throwing its metal fists around, making it easier for Monkey to strike. However, Monkey was also affected by the length of the battle and it wore on him, his stamina fading fast as he retreated behind a pillar to get a breather.

"Monkey!" Trip shouted out, the only warning he got after he was struck for the first time. The monster-mech rammed a gigantic metal fist through the pillar he was resting behind and blasted through it to reach the man. The blow to his back nearly paralyzed him, pain blossoming up his spine as he was slammed against the wall of the buildings that surrounded the enclose, grunting as he felt a rib crack. He got up, however, and persevered, getting out of the way after the demolition mech decided to rest again. Monkey decided that there wasn't a way to win with this thing until he did one last final hit to the mech's head, somehow knocking loose a coolant wire that kept the mech's systems from overheating which in turn lead to overloading.

"His systems are overloading!" she yelled, Monkey able to hear her over the heart beat that was pounding in his ear, "He's-he's losing control!" Monkey swore when it began exhuming red fumes and sparks, its speed increasing tenfold as it seemed to fly into a rage that smashed anything within its distance. He heard Trip scream when the mech swung a fist into a boulder near her, sending pieces flying towards her area and striking her enough to cause her distress. Now, coupled with his own heartbeat was that of Trip's. The mech was a bigger threat now, since the rage it flew into made everything its target, no longer just focusing on Monkey and possibly killing them both. This had to stop. _NOW_.

"Trip, hang on! I'm coming!" he yelled, enduring the pain by crushing a health pack and regenerating, bone knitting together along with precious spinal nerves, "_HEY!_ Bolts for brains!" The enraged mech turned to him, having heard the insult, and rushed at Monkey. He dived out the way and it hit the wall, causing a small tremor to travel through the entire area. Trip looked up after having dodged the debris and noticed the statue with the gigantic Earth on its back wobble, she got an idea.

"Monkey! The statue!" she pointed to it and he nodded, understanding what the plan was. He noticed that the mech had cooled its systems manually and began its slow lumbering walk towards him again. Monkey, having healed the break in his rib and the damaged nerves in his spine, easily enraged the large demolition mech once more. He drew it over to the statue where it ran straight into it and again the globe threatened to come loose from its place.

"It's working! Do it again!" she shouted to him, Monkey slamming his staff into the mech's head again to loosen more coolant wires, "He's out of control! Use it to your advantage!" This time was a little more difficult because the mech's rage continued to grow as its systems became more and more overheated. The mech now focused completely on Monkey in its anger, red optics like two coals burning in a fire place. It swung and crushed anything between it and Monkey, until Monkey began taunting it once more and it charged the statue again.

"That's it! Get it to hit the statue again!" Trip called out and Monkey stood directly in front of the statue, the metal from the statue's arms crumbling under the duress it was enduring from the mech. The mech itself had stayed in its enraged state and charged towards Monkey, the man leaping out of the way just in time for the machine to slam into the statue. It's arms completely gave way to the globe and it fell on the mech, the machine looking up in confusion as it was crushed. Once the metal ball had done its job, it rolled away, leaving the mech's broken husk laying there for all to see. It groaned in an almost sad and tired way. Monkey walked back to the mech, knowing that it wouldn't put up a fight any longer, and grabbed the back of its head, lifting it up and grabbing the core processor that was at the base of the head. With that, the terrible fiery eyes of the machine died out, leaving it empty.

"The fish…" Trip's weak sobs caught Monkey's attention and he carried the core processor to her, "The fish…" Trip had confidence that these fish would survive, as her people would survive, but in an instant, their fragile glass world broke and everything in it would die in a matter of minutes. An entire ecosystem destroyed by one act. It was an almost foreboding feeling that had intensified her sadness at the loss of such beautiful creatures.

"Hey Trip. Trip, come on," Monkey finally spoke to her, having squatted down to her level while she kneeled to mourn the fish, "Come on, you've gotta scan this thing." She looked at him almost offended and disbelieving that he wasn't feeling the same sorrow as she was, but she understood what he was trying to do. He was giving her a mission, something to do besides focus on the damned fish. She took the hand that was offered to her and she got up with a sobbing whimper. He even gave her the core processor, which he figured was important. After looking up at the sky and seeing it turn red with the setting of the sun, they set up camp, tired, hungry, and a little wet because of the fish tank having exploded on them due to the mech's interference. Monkey had scouted out a building that seemed to once hold multiple humans in it at the same time, which he guessed was a 'hotel', another lesson from his master from long ago. They decided to share a room, but there was only one bed. Monkey decided to sleep on the floor on the grounds that he'd be fine sleeping anywhere, having gotten used to it during the time he lived in the wilds. Trip agreed to the arrangement, mostly because she'd gotten used to sleeping on a bed herself. However, she couldn't help but turn her head to look at the man who was her protector, her guardian, and smile. She was touched by the way he held her hand while she cried for the fish, which now seemed a little silly looking back on the moment, but he had comforted her as best he could in his own way, and that was enough for her.

"Thanks…Monkey…" she whispered to him before turning away from him, unbeknownst that he was still awake. When he knew she was sleeping, he got up and walked over to the balcony of the room, leaving the door open so that fresh air could flow in and to make sure that nothing could sneak up on Trip without making a sound. Monkey needed time to think. All the while, he'd been going along with Trip, doing as she said mostly because she would use the damn headband to fry his brain if he ever disobeyed, but despite that, they had some personal moments that made him rethink completely cutting himself off from human life save for the occasional supplies. Monkey then thought of the one person who had been haunting his dreams lately, before the slaver ship had caught him and this whole mess started.

"Master…it's been ten years since I saw you…" he was leaning against the railing and looking up at the moonlit sky, "I need your guidance. And as much as I hate it, I wish you were here…Master…" With that, he closed his eyes and rested his head on his arms that were crossed on the railing. So deep in thought was he that he didn't notice the small green-blue dragonfly he had caught was escaping the open room and flying over his head. It met with its brethren back at the massive tree and seemed to converse with them in an odd and funny squeaking language. Some of them had been watching their journey across the mine-ridden fields, others observing the battle between Monkey and the behemoth. Then, the dragonfly Monkey had caught flew in the direction of the slaver ship with the other dragonflies in tow.

* * *

**-Location: Slaver Ship Crash-Landing Site (The Brooklyn Bridge)-

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**

The small group of dragonflies accompanied Trip's dragonfly as it flew over the waters and above the guard mechs, flying to where Priority One was resting and meditating in a pose. An eye opened at their arrival and they stood up, holding their hands out to greet them.

"Welcome, welcome," Priority murmured, their hands glancing over their wings in a gentle gesture and the small bug-bots gave little trills of delight, "Yes, I've missed you, too. Now what news do you have for me about my pupil?" They answered in mechanized whirrs and squeaks, to which Priority's eyes widened.

"Captured by a ginger-haired beauty you say…" Priority looked back in the direction where the dragonfly came from, presumably where Monkey had decided to camp for the night with Trip, "Perhaps I should have had that birds and the bees talk with him when he was younger…" The dragonflies shook their heads and beeped at Priority, making their head turn.

"Ah, with a slave headband…" Priority sighed and sat back down, "Quite a situation he has on his hands…I thought I taught him better than to leave himself unguarded like that. Although, I do admit, having to escape a crashing ship is a rather hard factor to predict…" Priority One cocked their head and closed their eyes, thinking. By no means was Priority a cruel and unfeeling master, but Priority did demand responsibility for their students' actions and consequences. After listening to the rest of the dragonflies' observations, Priority nodded. The master was proud, having wished they could have witnessed such an event as the destruction of a demolition mech by Monkey's hands. Then, when the news of the silver whip slaver came into the report, Priority One's lips set into a deep frown. Well, as far as they had heard, the man knew of the dangers in New York City. A dangerous adversary had stepped into their midst, and it wasn't likely that their most recent encounter would be their last.

"I see…very well, continue your investigation. And continue to report any other mishaps. It will give me time to prepare for their arrival," Priority One let the dragonflies run off, flying back towards Monkey and Trip, "Oh Monkey…I am always there. Even when you can't see me I am always there with you…just trust in what you feel and what I've taught you, silly boy. And you can do no wrong…"

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**chiv-id: YEAH! So, how'd y'all like that story? I was kind of tentative in doing this chapter because there are certainly some darker elements that I injected into the story here. Or at least planted small seedlings of darker elements here that weren't explained or gone into great detail in the original game because they only had so much time to make the damn thing. And of course, there's going to be small plot changes to incorporate my character into the story, so Priority One can talk to dragonflies. Fuck yeah. Spyro time, bitches. LOL, no, but I hope you've enjoyed reading this, it's relatively early here for me to be posting this...about 10:23 PM on my comp clock, so I'm kinda happy with submitting this at an earlier time so I can get a good night's sleep! Oh, and I didn't dress up for Halloween 'cuz I didn't have TIME! There is so much shit that is going to be on this week for me (or next week, depending on whether you consider Sundays completely disconnected from the week after it) because:**

**1) DRIVER'S TEST! Yeah, didn't get my license yet for certain undisclosed reasons, but I'mma get it this time!**

**2) MAH BIRTHDAY! Yes, my birthday's also the same week as my driver's test...new car? Nah, just jokes, wish I was getting a new car.**

**3) ELECTION DAY! Over here, for me and my folks, it's election day for governor and such, so I gots to vote. And my birthday and election day are on the same day. Fuck. WHYS DO I'S GOTS TO VOTES ON MAH BIRTHDAYS? Don't get me wrong, I care about my community, but voting on your birthday just kinda sucks.**

**4) TESTS IN GENERAL! Yeah...just bullshit right there.**

**chiv-id: So, I hope you guys had a much better Halloween than I did and I hope to see you guy soon on the next Dragon Tears chapter! AND REVIEW! For my birthday at least? =)**


	5. The Metal Tower

**chiv-id: Oh my goodness, how long has it been? Halloween to now...grah, not gonna count it! Not even gonna THINK about it. Too freaking depressing! Anyway, at least instead of giving you some bullshit little apology chapter, I'M GIVING YOU AN ACTUAL CHAPTER TO FREAKING READ. YEAH. BETTER THAN JUST WRITING I'M SORRY AND USING UP ONE WHOLE CHAPTER SPACE, RIGHT? OK, now that my caps lock-rape is over, let me just apologize one more time about how long since my last post was! Jeez...anyway, a few things before you get to delving into this packed chapter right here:**

**1) This chapter is literally ONE whole chapter in the game. So if you think this chapter is way too long, it's because I squished all of the gameplay of "The Metal Tower" in here.**

**2) Pay attention to the silver whip slaver, he will become an INTEGRAL part of the story about...two game chapters later when they finally reach the slave ship.**

**3) I know there's a lot of worrying about whether this will have any romantic pay-off at the end, but just to ease everyone's concerns, yes. As much as I hate Trip, yes, they will be romantic at the end of it...or at least somewhere near the end. I dunno if I'm gonna having them shacking up, since there IS going to be a sequel to this and *spoilers* THERE WON'T BE ANY TRIP/MONKEY CRAP IN IT. Well, a bit of IMPLIED Trip/Monkey, but that's about it!**

**All right, without further ado, here's the fifth chapter in Enslaved: Dragon Tears!**

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Chapter 5: The Metal Tower

* * *

**-Location: East 34****th**** Street-**

* * *

"Hey, wake up," Monkey's voice came to her and Trip's eyes opened slightly before rolling up and closing again, "Trip, c'mon, we gotta get moving." Monkey was serious and he shook her shoulder, Trip groaning and squinting before sitting up from the bed. She rubbed her eyes with her forefinger before looking around in a sort of daze.

"Glad you got your beauty sleep, princess," Monkey sarcastically muttered at her, causing Trip to look at him, "You're gonna need it. That guy's been tracking us, so we gotta go, now." As soon as Trip sat up, he had walked over to the closed balcony door, peering down and observing the same slaver with silver whips from the day before. Trip immediately awakened and got off the bed, adjusting her clothes to fit more properly before joining.

"What does he want?" she asked in a whisper, afraid the man would hear her from behind the glass door, "Why is he following us?" Now that they were at a close enough distance to observe safely, she saw that he was wearing a rich dark brown vest with metal symbols pressed into it that matched the ones that covered his body. The man also wore dark brown pants that had a gradient, going from dark brown to a silver that matched his whips. The most interesting feature of his clothing was the heavy-duty belt that held his whips and the iron-clad boots he was wearing, the belt holding all sorts of strange items while the boots came up knee-high and almost puzzle-like in its appearance. The man himself was impressive, tall, and his arms and legs certainly more muscular than an average man, similar to Monkey. However, his arms were noticeably larger than his legs, probably due to using his whips so often. His hair was black and shaggy, obviously uncut, and a small beard and mustache combination decorating his face. Trip couldn't see his eyes, so she couldn't quite make a decision on whether he was truly malicious or this was all due to being enslaved.

"Orders," he told her, eyes narrowing, "Pyramid's got him now, no use trying to talk sense into him." Monkey looked to Trip who looked back at him with big green eyes.

"And don't think that if you hack that headband of his, he'll be anymore happy with us," he turned away, his gaze still on the man then on her, "He's an A-rank prisoner for a reason." With that, he went into what was once the bathroom of the room and closed the door, most likely to wash his face and relieve himself again. Trip crossed her arms and stared down at him, now confident that the man couldn't see them. She observed him again and found nothing new, except that he slowly reached down and undid some of the puzzle-like clasps on his boots, revealing somewhat large feet as he rested them on the grassy floor. Surprised, she continued to watch him and lost her breath at the lashes on the man's feet and the sores that were most likely caused by the boots, most of them bleeding and terrible.

"He shouldn't be moving around at all with those kinds of wounds…" Trip breathed, a hand coming up to cover her mouth at the sight. She saw him approach a small area that had filled with water from a rainy day. He submerged himself as far as to his calves in it, the deepest it would go for a man like him, and he seemed to sigh as he tilted his head back. Water appeared to calm him and she watched the water turn red as it washed the blood from his legs.

"What're you staring at?" Monkey came up behind her and startled Trip, the red-head's eyes popping open and her hand that was just hovering over her mouth slapped on it.

"Monkey, you scared me!" she sighed, turning to look at the man, "Look, what do you think?" Monkey watched the man and saw him bend down, taking what looked like sand from the bottom of the pool and rubbing it between his hands.

"I think he likes playing with sand…and he's nuts," he turned his head to her, "Now go do whatever you have to do, we're leaving." Monkey abruptly cut the conversation short and Trip huffed a little before going to the bathroom. It was a wonder that the plumbing was still working, but Trip wasn't one to question it. Somehow, the toilet flushed as it would have in her village, and the water worked just fine. Perhaps Monkey had a gift to sniff out the still functioning areas of this forgotten city. In fact, when Trip thought about it, she could do just a little tweaking to the place and it'd be fit for people to live in once more, as long as the water and power still worked, which it did. Despite these thoughts, she walked back to the glass door after she finished, a towel in her hands as she stared down at the man who was painfully re-clipping the boots to his feet.

"We can't just come here…not when _they're _still around…" she whispered, referring to both the slavers and the mechs. Monkey was scoping out the hallway, to make sure there weren't any random lurking people around before ducking back into the room.

"C'mon Trip, time to go," he told her, waiting until she came to him to start walking, fast, "Is he still there?"

"Yeah," she replied, following him with downcast eyes. A little confused at the lack of enthusiasm and upbeat tone, Monkey glanced back at her and slowed down to a trot, walking side-by-side with her.

"Hey, what is it?" he asked in his normal gruff manner, but with a hint of caring.

"Monkey, why do you think people haven't come back yet?" Trip asked, giving him a question which annoyed him a little, "There are places like these where there's water, food, even power. Just a little work and they could be homes, real homes. Why is that?"

"Slavers," he answered immediately, a simple question, "Places like these call too much attention. This is where people were first taken."

"And with slavers still around, none of us can go back to the way things were in the old days," Trip put a hand to her father's precious EMP emitter, "My father once told me stories that he had heard from an old friend of his. It sounded…amazing back then."

"It always does," Monkey scoffed nonchalantly as they rounded a corner, "That was before mechs and power cells." Trip frowned at his downer attitude and saw a hole in the wall in front of them. They walked over to it and went through, Monkey's HUD showing that they were closer to their target now.

"Where's the crash site now?" she asked, the sun greeting them once more with no mercy.

"Over there," Monkey also felt the sun on his shoulders, "We're getting closer." Unfortunately for them, their target seemed just that much farther when they walked up to an immensely large trench that looked like a wound created by some large creature, tearing a gaping wound in the earth and revealing old pipes and dirt.

"We're gonna have to cross this ravine?" she asked, shocked by the size of it. Monkey walked to the edge of it, Trip looking anywhere but down as she continued to be amazed by her surroundings.

"Damn…" he tilted his head back, letting the warmth of the sun touch his face and calm him for a moment, and noticed a gigantic metal structure in the distance, "You see that metal tower? Maybe we can use it to get across." Monkey started towards it without checking to see if Trip was tagging along and she was almost left behind had she not caught the flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. She quickly fell into pace and grabbed her Dragonfly, which seemed oddly wet despite it not having rained.

"Okay, I'll use the Dragonfly to find us a route," she told him, throwing it up into the air to gain altitude and letting it soar above the surrounding area, "I'll put a marker up on your headband display." A small blue diamond with numbers came up when he looked at the tower and he nodded before he heard her make a sound of disappointment and worry.

"We can get through here, but…there are mechs up ahead," she reported, biting her lip.

"Looks like we don't have any choice," Monkey observed the position of the sun in the sky and knew that time was fleeting. Monkey easily progressed forward without much difficulty when Trip grabbed his hand.

"Slow down! Mechs dead ahead!" she told him in a loud whisper, and Monkey saw the sensor ripples from the headband, "Maybe we should find a way around them?" He looked around and saw some crates stacked on each other that he could use and began climbing once more, getting around the mechs by going over them. At one point, Trip couldn't possibly make the jump and Monkey threw her again, but she didn't quite catch hold of the ledge and began slipping towards the mech below her. It start ratcheting and whirring, hearing her panicked noises.

"Monkey, help!" she yelped, Monkey immediately coming over and hauling her up before they alerted the mechs. Trip breathed a bit heavily, thanking him quietly as they managed to traverse the rest of the way, landing a safe distance from the mechs before she began to talk again.

"Wow…my heart was beating so hard, I thought they were gonna hear it," she spoke in a hushed tone as she explored the new area, but she gave a frustrated and annoyed huff when she saw that there was only cliff and brick, "It's a dead end." Her arms raised for a moment, then dropped against her thighs with a slap, her eyes darting between the cliff and the brick wall with the derelict car. Monkey, however, had things under control as he knelt by the front of the car, looking at the space between it and the brick building. He turned back to look at the inactive mechs before giving a heaving push, his muscles bulging as he grunted and made the car slide up away from the now noticeable hole in the wall. Trip got the idea as he motioned to her hurriedly, darting through it before he rolled out of the way of the car as he let it slam back into its former position against the pole. Glad to not be stuck, Trip began again observing the area that was available to them and looked up at the plant-filled floors and collapsed concrete.

"Looks like we have to head upwards," Trip voiced her thoughts out loud, then looked at a particular shelf of concrete that wasn't too high up, "You could throw me up there." Monkey glanced between her and the shelf before consenting and tossing her up. He was pretty adaptable and this had already become somewhat of a routine for him, considering she still didn't have the right athleticism required for most of their tasks. As he clambered up the pipe to her location, Monkey saw several dragonflies pass overhead and buzz around him, making him wave his hand around to clear them away.

"You okay, Monkey?" she asked, calling out to him.

"Yeah, yeah," he swung his fist one more time and they scattered, flying away to some unknown destination, "Just some bugs bothering me is all…" The scene reminded him of an old projector-type film he once saw as a child with his master. It consisted of a large ape climbing up a building of immense proportions while holding some pretty damsel-in-distress and swatting what they used to call 'planes' out of the sky. They were shooting at the creature because they thought the ape was going to hurt the woman, when all it wanted to do was protect her.

"_Monkey?_"

…Speaking of damsels that were _always_ in distress…Trip was now almost yelling at him. And when her voice finally got to him, he groaned loudly and held his head, the ringing in his mind and ears almost deafening.

"You were sort of spacing out there…everything all right?"

"Yeah, keep your panties on, Trip," he muttered, the red-head giving a small sound of indignation before he leapt from his perch on the pipe, "Come on, let's keep moving." Without a word of protest being taken into consideration, Monkey swung her on his back and moved up the floors with ease. There was a small pause of silence before Trip decided to not ask about what he was spacing out for, figuring there'd be a time when he would tell her. Then, she began to speak again.

"Why do the mechs try to kill us? I mean, you said that they had an old code once, but…"

"It's all they know…" he grunted as he pushed himself up a floor, "It's been a hundred and fifty years since things were all black and white, right and wrong. Now, we're all just shades of grey, but the mechs don't know it. And ta them, grey's just as wrong as black." He stopped to take a breath and rest against a wall, the sun beating down on them quite persistently.

"…Yeah…" she whispered, and when she went quiet, Monkey began to regret his words. Annoying obvious-question-filled Trip was better than a moping depressed one.

"…We should keep moving. It's not safe," he reminded her, hoping to at least re-direct her focus on surviving for the most part. When they found a large flat plateau, Monkey let her off and they both explored the new area carefully, although Monkey still had an eye on her. Then, he saw something glinting at the corner of his eye and jogged over to it, kneeling and picking it up.

"Hey! Hey, I just found something…" he squinted at the syringe-like device and Trip came over, bending a bit and putting her hands on her knees.

"Wow…that's an energy serum!" she breathed in awe at his find, shocked that he could find something so precious just lying around like that, "It should help your wounds." His eyebrows raised for a moment and nodded, then gave it to Trip.

"Hey, wait, why're you giving this to me?" she asked, holding the serum delicately in her hands.

"You know more about it than I do," he replied matter-of-factly, "'Sides, if you need it, and I have it, then we're both in trouble." Trip couldn't argue with that logic and tucked it into her belt, deciding that if Monkey did actually need it, she could figure out a way to transmit the healing energy from her wrist-display to Monkey's headband. Or maybe make something that had about the same stamina and durability of that staff of his to contain the energy serum in. This made her more and more curious about the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Despite its traditional and rather archaic appearance, it was more technologically advanced than anything she had ever seen before. True, the use of the staff was crude and seemingly straightforward, but the fact that it can be used by just about anyone, provided they were strong enough, was the amazing part about it.

"Hey, we can cross over here," Monkey called to her, Trip following him and climbing on his back as customary. She held on tight as he jumped the space between the two metal grids sticking out from the buildings, but there was a small amount of blushing as she felt the man's body underneath her gliding so easily through the air. Immediately, she let go and started towards the stairs to go down, but Monkey's staring caught her eye. There wasn't anything of interest where he was staring, as far as she could tell, but he was completely immersed in the invisible object.

To Monkey, however…there was a mask-like visage that had appeared before him, surrounded by a vortex of white static light. He squinted at first, then blinked a few times, wondering if his vision was going bad. Somewhat pissed at the annoying unworldly distraction yet also in awe of it, he continued to watch it, expecting something to happen.

"…What the hell?" he whispered and he finally began moving towards the wall, which caused her to wonder if he was going to walk into it when he suddenly became aggressive and slammed his fist through whatever he was seeing. A small burst of red light flared from his headband and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them, Monkey's face also scrunched into a pained expression. Another flash occurred, but it was blue and much softer in brightness, Trip staring at it then Monkey again.

"Are you okay?" she asked, approaching him slowly and warily, unsure of what had just happened and what it had done to him. Had someone or Pyramid finally removed the hacking procedures she did on the headband and now made Monkey into their slave? Monkey, on the other hand, experienced a series of painful flashes, interpreted by his mind as images of someone, a man in particular, working in a some sort of white space with a black rectangular object and what looked to be an old-type of display that was housed in a white box. Was…that a computer, as in the old days? How was he able to see all this? And the second set of pictures…there was a young woman, coming into the office, greeting the man he saw before, hugging him excitedly, but her face was obscured just like the man's was.

"You didn't see them?" he asked Trip, looking around for the icon that had first triggered the…flashbacks? Were they images of the past?

"Monkey, there's nothing there," she told him under her breath, staring at him worriedly with wide eyes, analyzing him.

"I must be going crazy," he muttered, bringing a hand to touch the headband lightly while he paced about as Trip slowly walked towards him, her eyes now on the ground, still thinking.

"…It could be because of your headband," she spoke softly, but his ears had picked up on what she said. Monkey stopped suddenly, causing her to stiffen and lean back slightly, looking like a kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, waiting to be scolded.

"…It is effectively wired into your brain. Maybe it…" she paused slightly, afraid of what he might say or do, but he only turned his head slightly and expectantly, "…Causes hallucinations." She gave a small tilt of her head to make it seem less than it was, but he fully turned around and she became scared stiff, watching him carefully as he began to pace again, more vehemently this time. He had come all this way with her, planned on dumping her back in her little shit-bubble of a settlement once he got his bike back, and now had some sort of mental deformity. Just _really_ _fucking_ _super_. Never trust the ginger tech babes with long legs. They'll make your day worse than three demolition mechs punching you in the balls.

"Great," he muttered in a gravely voice, his expression disbelieving and utterly upset, "Great, this just gets better and better." The sarcasm was more or less a slap in the face to Trip, who had hoped he'd take it a little finesse as opposed to losing his cool and then throwing the blame to her. And while it was her fault, she hadn't known it would have done…_that_ to him. She would take responsibility, but even Monkey had admitted it himself: the world was full of shades of grey. She needed to get home and Monkey was the only person who could help her. Willingly? No. But he was the only person who could do it.

"I'm sorry!" she tried to catch up to him, sounding remorseful, but he continued to walk on, not even checking to see how hard she was trying to keep up with him now that he wasn't carrying her. Once he saw another metal grate on the other side of the rooms, he stopped and looked at her, Trip skidding to a halt. His eyes were just so…sad. Monkey had lived a hard life, from what she could tell. An outsider. A loner. A strong warrior who depended on no one and survived by his own devices. And now he got landed with _her_. _Her _who had put him in a slaver headband and now was pulling him along like a pet. That was what his eyes were saying to her. And God did it make her feel more awful than she had ever felt in a long time.

"…This way," he muttered, turning back to trudge to the fire escape that was right above the metal grate. She slowly began to follow him, and for a long time, there was only silence. Monkey didn't say a word to her, and she didn't feel brave enough or lucky enough to survive trying to talk to the poor bastard she screwed. Of course, she wouldn't ever phrase it like that, but considering Monkey's attitude, she was sure that was how he saw it. Finally, there was a break in the monotony when Monkey ducked behind a crate, motioning Trip to do the same. She peered over the crate to see what he was looking at.

"We might have a problem. One of those mechs has a shield," he told her quietly, watching the complex for any sign of movement. This was the one and only time where she thanked God there were mechs. It distracted Monkey effectively from having hallucinations via headwear. Although, there wouldn't have been any need for putting Monkey in said headwear if there _were_ no mechs in the first place. At that point, Trip would've slapped her head had it not been for the seriousness of the situation.

"Wait here. I'll do a scan," she quickly rattled off, trying to cover up the guilt and focus on the mission, sending her precious dragonfly to go survey the area, "That's our way out! I'll mark it…" Just above the shielded mech was a flight of stairs that could take them closer to the tower, but then her dragonfly zeroed in on the mech below.

"There's something different about that mech on the left…" she squinted at the data she was receiving, "I think its gun arm is detachable."

"Okay. I'll see if I can rip it off," he muttered darkly, obviously directing his anger at something productive now. As he moved closer and closer to the mechs in the complex, they activated and Monkey had to rely on Trip's decoy tech to allow him to pass without getting shot at every 3 seconds. By sneaking below their defenses, he was able to surprise the shielded mech from behind with a swift stun charge from his staff, making it turn around so that he could lift it up by its legs and make it topple. With that done, he grabbed the flailing gun arm and pointed it the mech's head as it struggled under him, grabbing a few wires to make it fire at it.

"Now! Rip it off!" she yelled to him, using her decoy tech to keep her safe. He didn't have to be told twice as he detached the gun arm from the dead mech and taking out its unsuspecting comrades, which was easy considering the power it produced. Too bad the arm was way too inconvenient and heavy in an up-close fight.

"You did it!" she exclaimed breathlessly, running over to a ladder that she wasn't able to reach at the moment, "Okay, now get to the ladder and knock it down!" Would her commands ever include a thank-you or please? You know, the way girls are supposed to ask? However, she did do a lot by pointing out the gun arm and distracting the mechs from shooting at him. He jumped and leaped his way across a few bare beams to reach the ladder, squatting near the top of it after he kicked it down for her.

"You know what? You did good," he told her, deciding that the hallucinations weren't exactly as big a problem as he was making it out to be, letting her off the hook for the moment before they killed each other with silence, "Spotting that gun arm..." Well, being grateful was something that did not come easily to Monkey, considering how little he had to be grateful for, but he was trying at least.

"Thanks," she offered back, smiling up at him as she climbed up. He nodded to her and began to ascend the stairs when he noticed that the only way across to the next building was scaling the bare beams of the foundation, which he could not do with Trip on his back, making him unbalanced.

"I don't think I can get you across this," he skeptically told her, looking from the beam-perch to her as she finished going up the stairs. Trip sighed and looked around, then spotted a small hole in the wall besides her, big enough for her, but not Monkey.

"Oh wait. I can get through here," she got on all fours to crawl through the wall, giving him a fine view of her ass as it wiggled and bounced to get through it. What? Just because they were on a life or death mission didn't mean he could stare at her ass?

"Okay, I'll find another way around," he muttered after his thoughts finished, bounding from beam to beam to meet up with her. As soon as he finished with the beams, her voice echoed in his head yet again, albeit without the God-overtone.

"There's a security door here. Give me a minute…" she told him through the headband, and he took his time walking to her location, dropping down beside her and squatting. Monkey glanced up at her again and took in her slim, yet buxom form. To reiterate, yes. She had a good body. And it had been some time since he had shacked up with a woman, although it was more due to the fact that he had been captured and being lugged around New York City by a crazy girl than not being able to wrestle one into bed. Whenever he happened to drift into settlements, there was always at least one girl who had taken interest in him. And for whatever reasons, sometimes due to infertility caused by polluted waterholes or girlish hopes of a white knight coming to take her away or just looking for a good time, he would land her and have himself a nice lay. He wasn't a gentle man by any means, so they often had to find a secluded location away from any passerbys or a sound-proof area where they could do it. He grinned at the last encounter, a wavy-haired brunette who was very impressed with his muscles, including his-

"Okay, let's go," she turned to look down at him and he stood up, the grin slipping from his face to deny anything he could have possibly been thinking at this point. The door swung wide open and a flock of pigeons flew in a startled frenzy, flying between the decimated buildings and their walls.

"We're nearly at the metal tower!" she ecstatically uttered, walking through to stare at their destination. However, Monkey was more focused on the set of buildings between them and the tower. It seemed to stretch on forever, and there were mechs more importantly. Scattered here and there, it wouldn't be too much of a problem. The only worry he had was Trip making a wrong move. The girl was bossy and commanding, but she didn't know jack-shit about combat situations. He had to talk her through each and every battle, or at least do it on his own. There was not one time he didn't have to tell her to do something. Only in the most recent attack was there a mutual exchange of information, something that he hadn't known.

"Okay, you just wait here," he told her, setting her behind some barricaded crates and sliding down the walls and beam to first attack the shield mech. With that gun arm, at least he would be cutting down the time he had to fight them, and he was able to slaughter most of them as he walked through the area, clearing any hostile forces that would shoot at Trip when he would tell her to meet him on the other side of the buildings. The only other thing that he couldn't take out was that damn turret, which was nearly indestructible despite using the mech's arm, and continued to give a rain of fire wherever he went. He hit an impasse when he finally found a way around the turret and looked up at the ladder that was too high to jump. She offered to take it down for him and he nodded when he saw that the coast was clear, throwing her up to the ledge to do a bit of teamwork. Despite that, they were stuck again when Trip couldn't find a way across without Monkey pulling down that metal grate section, so he tried to find a way to get to the other side. Yet, once again, he was plagued by another one of those white masks, flashing in and out, just above the metal grate bridge he was supposed to kick down.

"…What are these things?" he spoke softly to himself, still shielded from the turret due to the barrier of the building. He swiped at it and closed his eyes as he was taken back to another time, where the man he saw before was now staring at him from an apartment window, presumably the one he was at now, then he saw that the man wasn't staring at him, but the woman from before as she waved at him. Shaking his head, he decided to continue, jumping back to his previous position. However, as soon as he jumped for the last metal shelf that would get him there, it rusted away in his grip and dropped him to another rusty metal shelf. It almost gave way and he had to climb furiously to save himself, breathing hard afterwards as the iron dropped and clanged on its way down.

"Monkey, are you okay?" she called out, although he winced at this. Who knows how many more mechs there were in the area, and what if they had heard her? Moreover, the voice was ringing inside his head again and the bleeding rakes across his stomach from grasping the broken grate landing was more than enough answer for that question.

"I'm fine," he replied gruffly, "Just wait there! I'm comin'…" Monkey put a hand over the wounds and limped somewhat in a hunched-over manner, but straightened shortly after and walked across the beams and climbed another ladder to kick down the bridge for her. When they got to the covered area that flanked the turret, Trip knelt and peered over the edge at it.

"Okay, now we just need to secure the turret," she seemed to repeat the exact same idea he had, and used her decoys to his advantage as he advanced towards the bullet-slinging foe. After distracting it one last time, he jumped it and performed the take down necessary, jerking the turret head as if he were breaking the neck of another person, twisting the wires until they snapped, and positioning himself ready should any more mechs come.

"We're good," he told her via headband, swiveling on the turret.

"Okay, I'm coming!" she replied, making her way towards him. He continued to monitor the wide open area before him, keeping one eye on Trip as she started hacking a security door. For a small while, there was peace and serenity, and the dragonflies were yet again flying around him, albeit distantly. His thoughts went back to his master, whom he hadn't thought about for a few years now. Why was he drawn to think about the only person that had ever brought him up to feel special, only to drop him and leave him alone once again, just like his parents?

"Oh shit, _shit_! I tripped the alarm!" Trip's panicked yelp and the large blaring siren snapped his attention back to reality, already turning the turret to look at one mech who began storming towards them, "Keep them back while I get this open! I just need a few more seconds!" Great…maybe this girl was called Trip for a different reason…

"Damn, it's harder than I thought!" she cursed in a slightly frustrated voice, furious beeping coming from her wrist display as Monkey continued to lay fire on the mechs that were literally pouring in from all sides around her, "I'm in trouble, Monkey!" He only gave a stressed and angry yell as he started to just rain bullets at the ranged mechs that were starting to appear, the annoying ringing in his head continuing as Trip's heart rate sky-rocketed. All of these loud noises were just driving him absolutely crazy, including Trip's frantic excuses for why the hell her hacking was taking so freaking long!

"Come on, come on, almost there!" she yelled over the gunfire and alarm, ducking every once in a while to avoid the debris from exploding mechs.

"Hurry up!" he growled back, wanting her to talk less and work faster. Who knows how many mechs they were going to have on their hands, but he was certain that there were more mechs than bullets in this turret. And it was going to run out sooner or later.

"Uhh…got it! Got it!" she cried out joyfully, the alarm droning down and slowly becoming quiet, "Let's go!" The security door popped open and he ditched the turret, sliding down her position as he watched for any more mechs. Luckily, it seems that with the alarm gone, so were the mechs, at least for the time being. There were probably some stragglers that would come investigate, but without the alarm to guide them, it would take some time and by then, their trail would have gone cold. And they were so close to the metal tower now, crossing through the security building. By now, he was beginning to see a small pattern as another hallucination appeared before him. Maybe these things were all tied to this building, seeing the same man and woman in each and every single image-filled vision he had whenever he tried to touch the hallucinations. Walking through the hole in the brick building, he saw the man holding twin baby girls in his arms, kissing on one the cheek, then giving it to the woman who was smiling so happily at it. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the room he had entered was a bedroom, probably the apartment of the man he kept seeing. His eyes wandered to the window, the same one where he encountered the second hallucination, then to the bed that had gone yellow and green with age. Trip herself was looking at a nursery crib, just staring down at it and holding her arms against herself tightly.

"...I'm going to die here, aren't I?" she asked, eyes sadly looking at the old peeling wood of the crib, "Just like everyone else did?" Monkey kept his distance, unsure of how to respond. She wouldn't have made it this far without his help. Hell, she wouldn't have made it two minutes without him. However, she _was_ with him, so he just sidled off to the side so that he could look her straight in the eyes.

"I ain't gonna let that happen," he told her, Trip turning around to look at him. Her eyes, though still full of life, were now big and utterly afraid. After that near-death experience with the mechs at the security door, he couldn't blame her for losing faith. Though, as he said before, annoyingly optimistic Trip was better than sad, moping-around Trip, so he tried to clear her worries with a mere wave of his hand. Monkey gave a jerk of his head after she nodded, showing that she believed him, at face-value anyway, and they both progressed through the building. Passing through what seemed like a living room, it wasn't all that hard to imagine that this had once been a normal habitat from before the war. However, the wall beyond the living room had been torn asunder, any normalcy ripped away by the sight of the giant metal tower not too far away from their position.

"The metal tower," she spoke aloud again, "We're nearly there!" While there was a brief spark of hope, she looked down and covered her mouth, seeing a multitude of mechs below. Just when they were so close!

"There's mechs down there," she told him, although Monkey could see it very clearly with his own eyes. He stayed his 'obvious' talk, though, to spare her from any more emotional distraction.

"I'll deal with them. Let's just make our way down," he comforted her slightly, nudging her arm with a fist before he started to jump down the broken floors and walls. Then he noticed blue plasma cells and with a quick look-over, he was able to surmise that it was Stun ammo for his staff. Equipping it, he grinned as he got an idea as he shot at the mechs below, freezing them so that he could give them one solid over-head smack, effectively crushing them under the weight of his Ruyi Jingu Bang.

"Monkey, you missed one, it's calling for reinforcements!" Trip alerted him, drawing his attention to one that head fled to the corner. He ran towards it with abandon, ramming his rod straight through the mech's body to disable it, but not before it gave one last pained robotic cry. Monkey stiffened and his hair stood on end as he listened for anything that might have heard it. For a small while, it seemed like no one was coming, so he withdrew his staff and wiped the oiled end on the grass.

"Okay, you can come-" the wall behind him exploded, raining mortar and brick on him and making Monkey recoil. Another demolition mech had arrived, roaring at Monkey as it stormed towards him.

"Monkey! Look out!" he had to dive to avoid its wrecking ball hands as they crunched through his cover, Monkey scrambling with his staff as he tried to get to a safer position away from its attacks, "Whoa shit!" Trip had to take cover as well as it looked at her, hearing her voice, but at least it gave Monkey a chance to regain his balance and posture, now prepared against the robotic behemoth.

"Is that all ya got?" he screamed at it, making it turn back on him. Once again, he began slamming his staff against it, dodging its blows within inches of his life, having no plan besides smacking it.

"Monkey, shoot its head!" Trip's voice rang in his mind, causing him to flinch and giving the mech a change to deal a glancing blow to the man's ribs, cracking one. He gave a raspy yell at the pain, but instead toughed it out and drew his staff up to fire a plasma shot right at the bastard's head, blinding it and making it go red with rage. There was no gigantic steel ball to smash it, but there was a solid 6-feet-thick wall that would do just as well. So, he taunted it and ran to the side as it charged head-first into the concrete, leaving a sizable dent and the mech dazed and stunned.

"It worked! This won't last, hurry!" she yelled, although he already knew the plan and clambered up on its back, kicking and ripping off the shoulder pads that covered the electrical cables that allowed the mech to throw its wrecking ball fists and reel them back. Grabbing both of the cables, he gave a mighty roar before pulling up with all his power, making the mech's weighted fists retract into the arm sockets to crunch the head, letting it go as he jumped off. The mech fell back, sparking, and its head in pieces. Monkey rolled as he landed, stopping on all fours as he panted, one hand gingerly going to the broken rib as he stood up. Trip ran to him to make sure he was all right before pointing out the various health packs scattered about the place that was just turned into a robot graveyard.

"Thanks," he muttered, wishing she'd just grab it herself and give it to him. They weren't even all that heavy, but she just ignored him as she walked towards a giant red container, looking up at the edge of it.

"I think we can get back out on to the street from here," she told him, Monkey stamping down on a health pack to repair that rib. He nodded and began walking, albeit with a small limp. It might have erased the injury, but there was still a soreness that lingered from where the damn mech grazed him. With a bit of effort, Monkey came over to her position and threw her up onto the container, glad to be back on track. And hopefully, there would be no more mechs trying to mess with them for a small while.

"Come on Monkey! Let's go!" she called out to him, now more excited than ever about being so close to their destination. Monkey, on the other hand, was already tired. And it wasn't even 10:00 in the morning yet.

…_Fuck_.

* * *

**-Location: Slaver Ship Crash-Landing Site (The Brooklyn Bridge)-**

* * *

"...Although the monkey is not the most stealthiest creature in the world, I expected better from you, my student," Priority One sat under the shade of the cell, having heard the loud noises of destruction that could only be from Monkey and his companion, "You make it very easy to track you, Monkey, and it is not just I who is watching you, I'm sure." A few dragonflies drifted towards Priority One and they stroked the bugs on their small robotic heads.

"I see…and that man is still following them, correct?" the dragonflies nodded to Priority's question, "Hmm…and what of these 'hallucinations' you speak of?" They gave small whirring beeps and squeaks, Priority looking from them to where they last heard the explosions of Monkey's journey.

"…_He_ is bleeding through the headband I see," Priority's eyes narrowed, "Attempting to take control of Monkey, yet again. See to it that he hurries, little ones. Time is running out. Each new tempting image will bring him closer and closer to damnation." The little flying robots nodded and flew off, Priority sighing and resting on their laurels.

"Monkey…I pray for you," Priority entered a meditating pose and closed their eyes, "Your body and mind are no longer safe from him anymore…despite all that I've done to protect you from his machinations. And now, I can only hope that you can reach me in time before he claims you…"

* * *

**chiv-id: Wooooootttt, all right, another chapter DUN. And as you can see, I've added even MORE mystery! Although, to those who have played the game, I'm sure you can take a few guesses at what I've been writing about. LULZ Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this new chapter, and more importantly, I hope you'll stick with me through this literary nightmare (I mean, come on...I've had to watch each scene ten million times so that I could type it out correctly)! See you laterz, peepz! READ AND REVIEW!**


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